Aus Short Course Champs Day 3 Finals Wrap

AUSTRALIA’S two most successful swimmers of 2026, Lani Pallister and Sam Short (pictured) continued their golden run by dominating their respective fields and Night 3 finals of the Australian Short Course Championships at Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre.

Only 24 athletes will be selected at the conclusion of tomorrow night’s racing to compete at the 2026 World Short Couse Championships in Beijing from December 1-6 but Pallister and Short have made it easy for head coach Rohan Taylor.

Pallister, having already claimed the 200m and 1500m free titles, and Short – with the 800m free to his name – dominated the 400m free program on the penultimate night of racing.

The 24-year-old Pallister was in a league of her own as she touched in 3:54.55, an All-Comers record that shaved 0.03 of the old mark set by Ariarne Titmus six years ago.

Second-placed Jenna Forrester (4:02.68), already with a national record and gold in the 400IM, almost added the 400m free to her international representative program touching second but just 0.65 outside of qualifying time.

In the men’s 16-lap 400m free, Short made easy work of the qualifying time – clocking 3:35.16, a PB that was well under the 3:39.14 needed to book his ticket to Beijing’s Water Cube. Elijah Winnington finished second but just outside of the QT (3:39.24).

Both will now head to altitude training … Pallister to Flagstaff and Short to his bedroom in Brisbane to sit in an altitude tent for four weeks.

Pallister said: “Off to altitude in a couple of weeks’ time, and then, just pretty much getting back into full training, knuckling down and targeting World Champs.”

“I didn’t really anticipate fast swimming this week. I was actually pretty shocked with the 200 being plus 0.2, so pretty happy.”

Short said there was a target on the short course world record mark of 3:32.25.

“I think that’s gone in a couple of months at World Short Course. I haven’t swum much short course … in some ways it keeps you hungry,” Short said.

In other events:

Women’s 100m Butterfly: It was quite a race for South Australia’s Brittany Castelluzzo who defended her 100m butterfly national title when she clocked a PB and punched her ticket to Beijing.

After a deadheat with Claudia Fydler at the first 25m, Castelluzzo quickly broke away from the field and stopped the clock in 56.00, just under the qualifying time of 56.12. Fydler held off a closing in Liv Wunsch to finish second in 56.94 with Wunsch third (56.98).

Men’s 100m Freestyle MC: S10 classified para-athletes Rowan Crothers and Alex Tuckfield went head-to-head for the last time this week in the men’s 100m freestyle multiclass. Crothers, the long-course 100m free world champion, went out fast and stopped the clock in 49.97 to claim his third consecutive gold this week.

“What can I say, I’m an inspired man. Seeing my (SASI) training partners Britt (Castelluzzo) and Matt Temple get up in the 100m butterfly just before … I have the 100m fly tomorrow, so I’ll have to ask Britt and Matt for some tips on what to do,” Crothers said.

For Tuckfield, it was a mighty effort for silver (51.66) and he finished proud with a PB clocked in every race this meet.

Women’s 100m Freestyle MC: Maddie McTernan’s resurgence under the guidance of Rick Pendleton at Griffith Uni was on full display in the women’s 100m freestyle multiclass. The S14 athlete won gold and lowered her own national record to 58.95 – her third of the meet.

On opening day, McTernan set a 200m freestyle PB of 2:08.30 which broke her own national record from six years ago. She then backed up in the final to take the mark down to 2:07.68.

McTernan said: “That (100m free) was my last event and I’m very happy with that … it’s my first time under 59 (seconds).”

“I’ve trained really hard after the disappointment of missing 2025 World Championships team. Since joining Rick (Pendleton) in October (of 2025) it’s just clicked and I’m so thankful. I’m doing PBs after PBs.”

50m Backstroke: In the women’s 50m backstroke, Iona Anderson completed her sweep of the backstroke events and doubled down on selection for Beijing.

Anderson’s winning time of 25.88 was the sole qualifier and looms near Kaylee McKeown‘s Australian record of 25.35. With McKeown currently stepped back from racing, Anderson has had a breakthrough year winning gold on the international and national stage.

It was a tight battle for the minor medals between St Andrew’s Mackenzie Burns, Hunter’s Emily Jones and the 2025 Junior World Champion Ainsley Trotter. Burns claimed silver in 26.29 but missed qualifying for by 0.04. Jones placed third (26.32) and Trotter, fourth (26.47).

In the men’s event, Isaac Cooper won in 22.53 to go under qualifying time. Mark Nikolaev placed second in 22.96 and 200m backstroke winner Stuart Swinburn finished third (24.01), both times were outside of QT (22.89).

200m Individual Medley: IM specialists Tara Kinder, Will Petric and David Schlicht finally punched their ticket to China World Short Course in their respective races.

Kinder kicked things off in the women’s event, claiming gold in a personal best time of 2:05.48. Forrester won silver in a PB of 2:07.62, a gutsy effort after her hard-earned 400m freestyle silver medal just a couple of hours before.

An eighth of a second separated Schlicht and Petric in the men’s event. Schlicht nabbed the gold and the national title in 1:53.45 with Petric second in 1:53.53. A breath of relief for both as they went just under the qualifying time of 1:53.55.