Aus Short Course Champs Day 2 Preview

Oh what a night! Australia’s best swimmers sizzled on the opening night of finals at Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre with Rowan Crothers capping off a night of national records and personal bests with a world record.

Swimming’s most in-form Dolphins – Lani Pallister (200m and 1500m) and Sam Short (800m) – also booked themselves tickets to Beijing World Short Course Championships with three national titles between them.

Standby for more fireworks today.

Heats start 10am AEST // Finals start 6pm AEST

Day 2 Swimmers’ Six Pack Preview

FLYNN SOUTHAM
BOND, QLD – 100M FREE
“You’re only as good as your next race … and I am definitely not satisfied yet.”

Flynn Southam (pictured) hits the water today in his preferred distance. The 21-year-old scratched from yesterday’s 200m free to concentrate on today’s four-lap event and the relaxed Commonwealth Games champion is promising a slick time.

After his cracking 47.09 opening leg for Australia’s men’s 4x100m freestyle relay team that won gold in a Commonwealth Games record time and dethroning Kyle Chalmers – the first Australian in almost 10 years to take the 100m title from Chalmers – Southam has earned the hype that sees him enter today’s racing as the hot favourite.

JENNA FORRESTER
ST PETERS WESTERN, QLD – 400M IM
Jenna Forrester, silver to Pallister in the 200m free last night, is an absolute workhorse and comes here as the reigning Commonwealth Games champion – one of three golds she won in Glasgow along with the 200 IM and the 200 backstroke.

She was also second in this event at Pan Pacs.

Keep an eye out for potential Australian debutant Amelie Smith, the 18-year-old from Rockhampton is the reigning champion in this event. Smith won silver in this event at Junior Pan Pacs and won this event for 17-year-olds at Age Nationals in April – the winning margin was nearly nine seconds. In the last 15 years only two Australian 17-year-olds have swum faster – Jenna Forrester and Kaylee McKeown.

WILL PETRIC
NUNAWADING, VIC – 400M MEDLEY
Training at Nunawading under Jol Finck, Will Petric is one of Australia’s leading medley swimmers.

Petric closed out his long course season at Pan Pacs in California with several big PBs, most notably his 200m medley bronze claimed in a personal best time of 1:56.65 and set an Australian record (4:09.24) in the 400m medley – three-hundredths of a second off Brendon Smith’s national long course record that had stood since the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.

Petric impressed at last year’s Australian Short Course Championships, taking silver in the 200m and 400m freestyle events. However, this year he is focusing on the 200m and 400m medley with eyes set on a podium in China.

HANNAH FREDERICKS
ST PETERS WESTERN, QLD – 200M BACKSTROKE
A latecomer to the sport, Hannah Fredericks has emerged as a rising backstroke force.

She first secured selection for the 2025 World Championships and with the absence of the G.O.A.T. McKeown, Fredericks has stepped up in 2026 winning her first medal on the senior international stage – a 200m backstroke bronze – as well as two relay golds in Glasgow.

At last year’s World Cup, Fredericks posted a series of PBs in the 25m format.

This was the race where Fredericks came so close to selection for the Paris Olympics – finishing third at Trials behind McKeown and Jaclyn Barclay, with all three under the qualifying time.

Hard to beat will be Iona Anderson who won the 100m backstroke last night in a PB and the surprise gold medallist in Glasgow, Jenna Forrester.

VICTORIA BELANDO NICHOLSON
UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND, QLD – 50M FREESTYLE MC
Brisbane’s Vicky Belando Nicholson had a Dolphins debut to remember.

She not only won bronze on debut in the 200m backstroke at the Commonwealth Games – a podium shared with her best friend Gemma Sellick – but the S9 athlete backed it up for a second senior team campaign at the Para Pan Pacific Championships last month.

Belando Nicholson was on fire in California, posting multiple PBs across the three-day meet.

STUART SWINBURN
CITY OF SYDNEY, NSW – 200M BACKSTROKE
Sydney local Stuart Swinburn made his Dolphins debut in 2022 at the Melbourne World Short Course Championships and won silver as part of the men’s 4x200m freestyle relay.

Since then, he’s taken to the backstroke events, winning bronze in the 50m and 200m backstroke at 2024 Short Course Nationals. The 25-year-old competed at the 2026 Pan Pacific Championships and closed out the Dolphins’ campaign in California as part of the silver medal winning men’s 4x100m medley relay team.

Special shout out to Brad Woodward, a fixture in Dolphins’ teams since 2018 and an integral part of Australia’s medley relay success who quietly retired earlier this year.

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