Aus Short Course Champs Day 1 Preview

SAM SHORT
RACKLEY, QLD – 800M FREESTYLEAn in-form Sam Short dives into his 2026 short course campaign with the 800m freestyle. Dolphin Short is one of the standout athletes of 2026 boasting PBs, records and a pool room of gold medals that the 23-year-old claimed while competing at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games and the Pan Pacific Championships in California.Flashback 12 months ago, Short posted a series of PBs to win the 400m, 800m and 1500m at the 2025 Australian Short Course including a 7:31.79 in the 800m – Australia’s second-fastest performance of all time, sitting only behind distance great Grant Hackett (7:23.42).

Then at Commonwealth Games’ Trials in June, Short became the first man to sweep the 200m, 400m, 800m and 1500m freestyle titles since … that man again, Hackett. With selection on the line for a third Australian Dolphins team this year,  Short is surging towards gold in China this December.

LANI PALLISTER
ST PETERS WESTERN, QLD – 1500M FREESTYLE

Australia’s ironwoman of the pool is back for more.

The last few months for Lani Pallister have been a blur, starting with an historic campaign in Glasgow, where she won inaugural 1500m Comm Games gold, followed by her wins against swimming great Katie Ledecky and Canadian sensation Summer McIntosh at Pan Pacific Championships.

Pallister has grown into Australia’s premier women’s distance freestyler but with powerful underwaters, the Alex Headland Surf lifesaver is a gun across the short course format. At the 2025 World Cup three-stop series, Pallister swept the 400m freestyle titles, clocked multiple records across the 400m, 800m and 1500m distances, and erased over three seconds off Ledecky’s short course 800m freestyle world record on the final stop in Toronto.

To put this simply, Pallister loves short course. She first shot to stardom at the 2022 World Short Course Championships when she won four gold medals and helped Australia set a 4x200m freestyle relay world record.

Four years later at the 2024 Budapest World Short Course Championships, she was Australia’s most successful swimmer with four medals, including 800m free gold.

ED SOMMERVILLE
BRISBANE GRAMMER, QLD – 200M FREESTYLE

Dolphin quiet achiever Ed Sommerville clocked a PB of 1:40.59 at QLD SC States in August last year and has put Aussie teammate Max Giuliani on notice in the men’s 200m free.

Sommerville, 21, made his Dolphins debut at the 2024 World Short Course Championships and it was there that fellow Dolphin Giuliani clocked the currently standing all-time fastest time by an Australian (1:40.36). The Dolphins go head-to-head today and in the 100m freestyle on Day 2.

IONA ANDERSON
UWA WEST COAST, WA – 100M BACKSTROKE

Western Australia’s Olympian Iona Anderson has had a breakthrough year.

While a back injury ruined 2025 for her, forcing her to sit out the World Championships in Singapore, she enters this meet as the reigning Commonwealth Games gold medallist.

She also won silver in the 50 back at Glasgow Commonwealth Games and backed this up with bronze in the one-lap event at Pan Pacific Championships.

At the last World Short Course Championships in 2024 in Budapest, Anderson handled an impressive 13 races across individual and relay commitments.

Keep a close watch on WA’s workhorse.

ALEX TUCKFIELD
AQUABLITZ TOONGABBIE, NSW – 200M FREESTYLE MC

The 2025 World Para Swimming Championship bronze medallist Alex Tuckfield dives in for one of his favourite events – the 200m freestyle.

Tuckfield began his sporting journey in cross country running, and competed at a national level, before the physical demand on his legs turned him towards swimming for rehabilitation.

Born with right hemiplegic cerebral palsy, where one side of the body is primarily affected with weakness, Tuckfield currently competes in the S10 classification and has risen through the ranks as a competitive freestyler alongside sprint Dolphins Rowan Crothers and Tom Gallagher.

When he was 16, Tuckfield set a S9 men’s 200m freestyle world record at the 2020 Australian Virtual Short Course. The Sydney-based athlete went on to make his Paralympic debut in Tokyo and win 400m freestyle S9 bronze.

ALEX PERKINS
USC SPARTANS, QLD – 50M BUTTERFLY

Perkins went to Glasgow Commonwealth Games seeking her first individual gold medal – and returned home with five gold: 50m and 100m fly, women’s 4x100m free relay, women’s 4x100m medley relay, and mixed 4x100m free relay.

It was in Glasgow 12 years ago when Australia’s most successful Olympian Emma McKeon announced herself on the global stage with four gold and two bronze medals and while they are big strokes to fill, Perkins has been identified by head coach Rohan Taylor as one to watch.

Taylor said: “Alex Perkins is someone that’s been coming along. I mean, after Emma (McKeon) retired from the fly, it was a long way before we thought we were going to get somebody down to an Emma, but geez, Alex has really filled the void and she’s versatile with her freestyle. She’s someone that has really put the work in over the last few years and one to look out for.”

The 2026 Australian Short Course Championships – held at SOPAC from 29 September-2 October – is live and free on Channel 9.