Pan Pacific Championships Night One Finals: Sam Short Adds 800 Free Gold
Sam Short is putting together another outstanding summer. He added to it with one more gold medal Wednesday night.
Short went 7:37.02 Wednesday night to win the men’s 800 free at the Pan Pacific Championships in Irvine, California.
It gives Short the two fastest performances in the world this year. This one at the Woollett Aquatic Center was peerless, taking down Zane Grothe’s meet record from 2014 by 6.72 seconds. He was precisely 5.5 seconds ahead of runner-up Bobby Finke.
It’s with good reason that’s he’s called this, “probably the best year I’ve ever put together.”
“I felt great,” he said. “I felt really good warming up. … I beat the Europeans that swam early today. I was pretty fired up to try and do that. And I’m really excited to race them next year as well.”
It’s two Aussies on the podium, with Benjamin Goedemans third in 7:44.67.
Short has been sensational this summer. He did the 400/800/1,500 free treble in Glasgow at Commonwealth Games to go with gold in the 800 free relay. He was 7:39.81 there in the timed final. At Aussie Trials, he laid down the fastest time this season at 7:36.73, the fastest textile time in history and the third-fastest all-time, with the long-standing world record of Lin Zhang (7:32.12) and Ous Mellouli’s 7:35.27 remaining untouchable out front.
On a different day, he said, that second-fastest performance might’ve been attainable. For now, Short is settling for an increase in big-time racing experience with the Los Angeles Olympics on the horizon. While battling an illness in Paris, his best performance was fourth in the 400 free.
“It’s important, obviously,” he said of the race testing. “You’ve got to be able to handle the big stage, more about winning at championships. They won’t be PBs. They’re won by handling the pressure. I like to think the more years I do it, I’m going to be better at that.”
Finke was not unhappy with his time, well the 7:42.52 well ahead of the 7:51 he entered with this season. He’s also good with the test.
“It hurt a lot,” he said. “They push me to do my best. My best in-season time was a (14) 51 in Austin, so I always do my best when I’m racing.”
The “slowest” heat included a not all that slow swimmer in Elijah Winnington, the Aussie Olympian who went 7:50.11. It’s eight seconds slower than he went at the Paris Olympics, but still a quick time that finished fifth overall.
