Night 2 Finals: Aussie Short Course - DASH CAM CALLS FOR SPRINT REVOLUTION

IT took all of 9.36 seconds for Cam McEvoy to prove his point – speed thrills and the revolutionary tactics of high-octane H20 has the potential to become the Big Bash of swimming.

McEvoy was the star attraction in tonight’s men’s 25m freestyle, an exhibition event of the 2025 Australian Short Course Championships at Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre.

If the heats were popping, the final was absolutely fizzing with the crowd – including a guest appearance from Dolphin royalty Ariarne Titmus – keen to catch a sight of F1 on water – an event that McEvoy has called for to be recognised around the world.

“I would love World Aquatics to recognise the 25m and times across the world … and for a 25m world record to be ratified … something that can set a standard for us to chase and to change,” McEvoy said.

“It could be part of World Cups … and as you can see from the buzz tonight, it brings a lot of excitement. It is an event the world can get behind – it’s unique, novel and definitely adds excitement to the sport.

“I haven’t seen that much buzz around a competition or an event, in swimming in a very long time. I just want speed. And I think the crowd loves to see speed.

“The 25m has a direct correlation, a snowball effect, to the 50m. It’s a unique opportunity for countries to get behind this and then have an event run domestically, it’s revolutionary and it’s exciting.”

There are no previously officially recorded times available to suggest that any swimmer has ever swum a time faster than 9.36 seconds for the 25m freestyle.

McEvoy, 31, was the only swimmer under the 10 seconds while Callum Halloran-Lavelle finished second (10.22) and Samuel Herraman third (10.35).

CEO of Swimming Australia Rob Woodhouse said the 25m event had been enormously successful and given the crowd response was destined to feature on Swimming Australia’s event calendar.

In the women’s 25m free exhibition event, fastest qualifier Lily Young backed up her heat swim to touch first in 11.58, with Mackenzie Burns second (11.60) and Jodie Mead third (11.71).

In other events:

• Men’s 100m IM Multi-Class: Ahmed Kelly: Four-time Paralympian Kelly – returning from Singapore’s World Para Swimming Championships where he picked up silver in the 150m IM SM3 – took advantage of competing at home in front of family and friends. After a bronze in the 50m backstroke multiclass on the opening night of finals, Kelly claimed gold tonight in the 100m multi-class with Riley Su the silver and Ryan McGrane the bronze.

 

• Women’s 200m Freestyle – Brittany Castelluzzo: She was the fastest seed coming and newly crowned World Championship 4x200m relay gold medallist Castelluzzo did not disappoint smashing out 1:54.69 to out touch Tara Kinder (1:54.99) with Lucy Dring (1:57.57) third.
• Women’s 50m Butterfly: Just 30 minutes later, Castelluzzo backed up to win bronze and Dring silver behind gold medallist Claudia Fydler (25.94), daughter of Olympians Rose Fydler (nee Brown, 1980) and Chris Fydler (1992, 1996, 2000).

 

• Men’s 100m Freestyle: Olympian Kai Taylor (47.31) out touched his Paris teammate Matthew Temple (47.37) to claim his first national title in the 100m with James Ward (47.89) third.

 

• Men’s 100m Free Multi-Class: A final featuring three members of the Australian Seals Deaf Swim Team for November’s Deaflympics in Tokyo – the Logan brothers James and Dylan and Samuel Greatorex – all in the S15 classification. But it was Paris Paralympic bronze medallist Jack Ireland S14 who won gold, Greatorex silver and Hamish Keenan third.

 

• Women’s 400m IM: Rocky City’s Amelie Smith won the women’s 400m IM, shaving three seconds off her heat time to clock 4:36.67 with Philippines Xiandi Chua (4:43.19) and Nunawading’s Dakoda Mathers (4:49.30) third.

 

Sam Short followed his 400m win from night one with another impressive personal best time of 14:25.26 to win the 1500m freestyle in the second fastest time by an Australian.