Aussie Teenage Olympic Hope Sam Short Sinks A Little Slice Of Swimming History
It has taken 30 years but tonight on the Gold Coast a little slice of swimming history fell to a teenager with his own dreams of one day conquering the swimming world.
It’s not every day that Kieren Perkins’ name is erased from swimming’s age group record books but Rackley Swimming’s Sam Short can proudly make that claim – and happy to be mentioned in the same sentence as one of swimming’s greats.
Competing in the 16-17 years 800m freestyle at the Australian Age Championships at the Gold Coast Aquatic Centre, Short lowered the dual Olympic champion’s long-standing 30 year-old mark – set by the legendary Perkins in 1991.
SEEING RED: Sam Short is one happy camper. Photo Courtesy: Delly Carr (Swimming Australia)
Short clocked a time of 7 minutes 52.18 seconds – taking 0.75secs off Perkins time of 7:52.93 and the 17 years Australian All-Comers record – which was his 800m split time (feet on the wall) in the epic 1500m freestyle final at the Sixth World Championships in Perth in ’91.
The night was January 6, and a balmy Perth evening in 1991 as the curtain fell on the World Swimming Championships – a night that saw Perkins swim stroke-for-stroke with Germany’s Joerg Hoffman – 30 laps eyeball to eyeball, stroke-for-stroke.
After an epic race both swimmers had swum under the great Vladimir Salnikov’s long standing world record of 14:54.76– set in 1983 – Hoffman clocking 14:50.36 to Perkins 14:50.58.
And as the world’s press awaited the two combatants Salnikov burst into the room with a bottle of champagne to acknowledge the moment – the mark of a true champion.
It was a night to remember in world swimming that would see Perkins play a dominant role in re-writing the record books in the 800 and 1500m for the next decade.
SNAPPY CHAPPY:Kieren Perkins named Swimmer Of The Year in 1992. Photo Courtesy: Hanson Media.
Sam Short, a boy very much on the rise in the Australian distance swimming, is aware of the history of the 1500m in Australia and in particular out of his home State of Queensland with the likes of Stephen Holland, Glen Housman, Kieren Perkins, Daniel Kowalski and Grant Hackett and now Jack McLoughlin playing huge roles in the distance swimming history in Australia.
Perkins presence was certainly not lost on young Short, who idolised the great champion, the President of Swimming Australia.
“It feels pretty amazing – I’ve looked up to Kieren my whole life,” Short said after his win. “He’s ‘the man’ of the sport for distance swimming in Australia and he was the first for a lot of things, it’s an honour really”
And on his up-coming campaign?
“Leading into trials I’ll have a lot of competition in the 800m. At the back end of the 400m I need to kind of hang tough really and need to work on coming back harder. I went out hard but kind of fell off towards the backend, but you live, and you learn.”
Unlike that battle royal in Perth, Short’s swim tonight was a solo effort as the youngster, regarded as an outside chance of an Olympic berth this year, led from the opening turn.
He clocked 55.84 for the first 100m before settling into his rhythm averaging 59s/60s for most of the race and a final 100m of 58.30 to snatch the record by a touch and the victory by 15 seconds from St Peters Western’s Joshua Staples (8:07.84) and his Rackley club mate George Williamson (8:29.33) winning bronze from this morning’s heats.
Here are Short’s splits: (55:84; 1:54.72; 2:54.05; 3:53.60; 4:53.48; 5:53.88; 6:53.88; 7:52.18) from a swim that ranks him in the top eight in the world for 2021.
And out of interest, compare Short’s splits with Perkins (55.92; 1:54.40; 2:53.38; 3:52.54; 5:53.39; 6:53.04; 7:52.93) and remembering he kept swimming on to that 14:50.58
Short’s time is still four seconds outside Australia’s Olympic qualifying time of 7:48,12 but a record time he can be mighty proud of – not every night you can de-throne the “The King.”