Pan Pacific Championships, Night Four Finals: Sam Short Sets Aussie Record in 1,500
Long before the swimmers stepped to the blocks in the men’s 1,500 freestyle at the Pan Pacific Championships, the best mile of the day had been swum Saturday.
That swim came Saturday morning, at the European Championships in Paris, with German wunder-teen Johannes Leibmann blasting a time of 14:26.79 that obliterated Bobby Finke’s World record from the Paris Olympics at 14:30.67.
As a follow-up, Sam Short did pretty darn well.
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, all the way in 2001. It’s the eight-fastest performance and makes Short the sixth-fastest performer of all-time. He did it with Ian Thorpe, the Aussie icon, in attendance.
It also caps a week in which he’s won gold in the 400, 800 and 1,500 free and silver in the 800 free relay in a dominant Australian male performance.
Kazuishi Imafuku finished second in 14:42.59. That erases the mark that Kaito Tabuchi set at 14:45.57 in March. Tabuchi was fifth in 14:57.02.
Finke finished a downer of a day by finishing third in 14:44.26 to nab bronze for the United States.
In the slowest heat in the morning, three Aussies finished on top. Benjamin Goedemans was best of them in 15:01.20, which took sixth place overall. Nicholas Sloman followed in 15:15.39, then Elijah Winnington in 15:19.37. That is seventh and eighth, respectively.
