{"id":651534,"date":"2026-08-15T21:09:51","date_gmt":"2026-08-16T04:09:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=651534"},"modified":"2026-08-16T11:20:21","modified_gmt":"2026-08-16T18:20:21","slug":"pan-pacific-championships-night-four-finals-sam-short-sets-aussie-record-in-1500","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/pan-pacific-championships-night-four-finals-sam-short-sets-aussie-record-in-1500\/","title":{"rendered":"Pan Pacific Championships, Night Four Finals: Sam Short Sets Aussie Record in 1500; Breaks Hackett’s Longtime Mark"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pan Pacific Championships, Night Four Finals: Sam Short Sets Aussie Record in 1500<\/strong><\/p>\n

Long before the swimmers stepped to the blocks in the men\u2019s 1,500 freestyle at the Pan Pacific Championships, the best mile of the day had been swum Saturday.<\/p>\n

That swim came Saturday morning, at the European Championships in Paris, with German wunder-teen Johannes Leibmann<\/strong> blasting a time of<\/a> 14:26.79 that obliterated Bobby Finke\u2019s<\/strong> World record from the Paris Olympics at 14:30.67.<\/p>\n

As a follow-up, Sam Short<\/strong> did pretty darn well.<\/p>\n

Short went 14:33.97 to win gold at the Woollett Aquatics Centre in Irvine. It makes him the Australian record-holder, taking down the 14:34.56 set by one of his idols, Grant Hackett,<\/strong> all the way in 2001. It\u2019s the eight-fastest performance and makes Short the sixth-fastest performer of all-time. He did it with Ian Thorpe,<\/strong> the Aussie icon, in attendance.<\/p>\n

The swim surprised Short, among others. But it’s possible that him being relaxed and short on expectations going into it helped his performance.<\/p>\n

“I really felt like well, not now,” he said. “I haven’t really been training for it, and I just really wanted to go in there and just finish off this big campaign I’ve had this year. When I actually heard 14:33. I was like, holy moly, Just knocked off one of my hero’s best times. So, and it was even better, Thorpy was right behind in the VIP section watching. So, best moment. I\u2019ll remember this for the rest of my life.”<\/p>\n