Commonwealth Games, Day Six Finals: Distance Dominator Sam Short Defends 1500m Freestyle Gold Ahead Of Dan Wiffen and Ben Goedemans
Australia’s distance dominator Sam Short has tonight become the gold medal defender, winning back-to-back gold medals in the 1500m freestyle in Glasgow – presented with Australia’s 100th medal at the 23rd edition of the Commonwealth Games.
And it was an angry Short who led from the start to win in a time of 14:42.11, digging deep to keep Northern Ireland’s Dan Wiffen and Dolphins teammate Ben Goedemans at bay. Short defended the gold he won in Birmingham four years ago, and completed the distance treble – adding the 1500m title to his gold medals in the 400m and 800m and 800m freestyle relay.
The win came 90 minutes after he had swum the final of the 200m freestyle, won by team mate Kai Taylor from Lane One.
Wiffen, the Paris Olympic bronze medalist and 2024 world champion, was unable to bridge the gap, finishing in 14:44.70 for silver, with Goedemans adding bronze to his tally in 14.49.50. It was a personal best for the Games rookie and pleasingly under 14:50 for the first time.
Short said after the race that he wasn’t all that happy with his 200 earlier in the session, so he took his anger into the 1500m.
“I was caught up with the cat and mouse swimming in that 200m and couldn’t see Kai swimming on the outside,” said Short. “I was a little bit frustrated and I took all that anger out there (for the 1500m). It was a pretty hot field with (Dan’s) 14:44 for second – so I’m really happy with that to be honest. Having the 200 and 1500 on the one night, I don’t know who designed the schedule to be honest but it bloody hurt – a 1:45 to a 14:42…that’s a great training session right there. I’m pretty excited about what lies ahead in the future.”
Short completed a rare feat personally, becoming fourth Australian to defend the 1500m crown, joining Manly pioneer Noel “Tiger” Ryan (1930 and 1934), Max Metzker (1978 and 1982) and Grant Hackett (1998 and 2002).
And for the Australian team, the Class of 2026 emulated the feats of the 1990 Auckland Commonwealth Games team, by winning every men’s and women’s freestyle event. That’s 12 individual events from the 50, 100, 200, 400 and 800m to the 1500m – along with all the freestyle relays – for a total of 17 freestyle wins.
It was a tough ask at the end of a nonstop six days for Short, who played his head back in the water, basking in a glorious week’s work in the Tollcross International Swimming Centre.
Australia’s List Of Freestyle Dominators:
50m: Meg Harris and Cam McEvoy
100m:Meg Harris and Flynn Southam
200m: Mollie O’Callaghan and Kai Taylor
400m: Lani Pallister and Sam Short
800m: Lani Pallister and Sam Short
1500m: Lani Pallister and Sam Short