Australian Olympic champion Madison Wilson announced her engagement to long-time boyfriend Matt Short via Instagram on October 20th.
Short, 28 (no relation to Aussie freestyle star Sam Short), is a professional cricket player. He is affiliated with the Victorian State Cricket Team and the Adelaide Strikers, per his Instagram. Nike, Gunn and Moore, and Forma Helmets are listed as his sponsors.
Short made his international (Twenty20 cricket) debut for Australia on August 30th of 2023, where he participated in the Australia vs. South Africa match. Australia ultimately walked away victorious, winning by 111 runs.
Wilson, 29, has been a staple on the Australian National swim team dating back to 2013, where she broke onto the scene as a backstroker. At the 2015 World Championships, then 21-year-old Wilson touched in 58.75 to secure a silver medal in the 100 backstroke. Emily Seebohm took the win in 58.26, leading a 1-2 sweep for the Aussies.
At the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, Wilson walked away with a gold medal in the 4×100 freestyle relay. Wilson swam the opening leg in the prelims, splitting 54.11 to help Australia advance first to the final. She added a silver medal effort in the 4×100 medley relay to end the meet, where she swam the backstroke leg in prelims. Individually, she was 8th in the 100 back final (59.23).
Following the Rio Olympics, Wilson slowly began to shift her primary focus to the freestyle events. It would pay off, as she ultimately swam the 200 free individually at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. She made the Olympic final, placing 8th in 1:56.39 – matching her best individual finish from the previous Olympic Games. She also competed on Australia’s final relay for the 4×200 free relay, where she split 1:55.62 on the 3rd leg to help her team earn bronze. She also earned a gold medal for her prelim swim in the 4×100 free relay.
At this point in her career, Wilson has earned 11 World Championship gold medals, 24 total World Championship medals, and 4 Commonwealth titles. Wilson competed at the most recent World Championships in Fukuoka, but has not raced since. She has not yet formally announced a retirement.
Madi Wilson’s Instagram Engagement Announcement:
Well, that was news in October.
wow they’re cute
Only took 3 months for this “news” to reach SwimSwam 🤣
Anyway, congratulations!
Swimswam commenters get bent out of shape for the most inane reasons, I swear.
Congrats to the happy couple.
And in 20 years, their kid will go 3:55 in the 4 IM.
Male or female? And since the baby isn’t born yet (and presumably won’t be this year), what age will s/he be? Just for the record…..
…. You think a woman will break 4 minutes in the IM? I wish I shared your optimism.
no, but Leon will. I think women will be closing in on the 4:20 mark in the next 5-7 years.