Aus Short Course Champs Day 1 Heats Wrap

What to look out for at Night 1 Finals:

• Can Ben Armbruster (pictured) break his newly minted national record of 22.00 he set in the heats of the men’s 50m fly?
• Will Sam Short carry his 400-800-1500 clean sweep form from Glasgow and Pan Pacs into tonight? It all starts in tonight’s 800m free.
• Para sprint king Rowan Crothers shocked himself to qualify fastest for tonight’s 200m free multi-class final. His heat time of 1:53.79 nudged the S10 men’s national record of 1:53.61 currently held by Alex Tuckfield who also features in tonight’s final.
• And so it begins. Lani Pallister, swimming everything from the 100m-1500m, can double down on two national titles tonight: the women’s 200m and 1500m freestyle.

THE first session of the 2026 Australian Short Course Championships at Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre saw flyer Ben Armbruster “put on a show” in front of his grandparents with a national record in the men’s 50m butterfly.

Armbruster’s 22.00 bettered the previous mark of Kyle Chalmers (22.24) and continued an outstanding year in which he has claimed gold in the same event at the Commonwealth Games and Pan Pacific Championships.

The 24-year-old is shaping up as a potential Number 1 pick ahead of this Saturday’s inaugural draft of Swim GP: a two-day meet in November that will pit four teams of 20 against each other.

But first Armbruster, from Bond University, is looking to secure his ticket at this meet to the World Short Course Championships in Beijing in December.

“I can’t wait to see what I can do tonight, there’s room for improvement but I am so stoked to do that especially in front of Pa and Nan, who are up from Tasmania, and my sister,” Armbruster said.

Armbruster has loved swimming at this pool – in June he edged out Cam McEvoy and Kyle Chalmers in a blanket finish on the final night of Commonwealth Games Trials – just seven-hundredths of a second covered the top three.

Armbruster then went on to dead-heat with Chalmers for gold at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, equalling Matt Targett’s Australian long course record from 2009, before again standing on the top step of the podium at Pan Pacs.

The other national record to fall this morning was claimed by Para swimmer Maddie McTernan (Griffith University) in the 200m free multiclass.

A pumped McTernan clocked 2:08.30, breaking her own national record by 1.53 seconds set in 2020, as she continues her renaissance under Rick Pendleton.

McTernan won one gold and one silver at Para Pan Pacs – as well as her silver in this event, where she set a new Oceania record, and was part of the gold medal winning Mixed 4x100m S14 Freestyle relay team (along with Jack Ireland, Ruby Storm and Ben Hance).

See 2026 Australian Short Course Championships live results here