Australia Sets 18 National Records At 2022 Short Course World Championships

2022 FINA SHORT COURSE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Tuesday, December 13 to Sunday, December 18, 2022
• Melbourne Sports and Aquatics Centre, Melbourne, Australia
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With Australia playing host to the Short Course World Championships for the very first time, the home nation fielded the best roster it has in recent memory to the competition and they produced the results to show for it.

Australia sent a stacked 36-member roster that featured the vast majority of the country’s biggest stars, including Emma McKeon, Kaylee McKeown, Kyle Chalmers and Mollie O’Callaghan, and the athletes delivered by not only finishing with 13 gold and 26 total medals, but also lowering an astonishing 18 National Records.

11 of the 18 Australian Records came in relays, including new world records in the women’s 400 free, 800 free and 200 medley, as well as the men’s 400 medley relay (where they tied with the U.S.).

Australian Records Broken At SC Worlds

• Isaac Cooper, men’s 50 backstroke – 22.52
• Grayson Bell, men’s 50 breaststroke – 26.24*
• Emma McKeon, women’s 50 freestyle – 23.04
• Lani Pallister, women’s 800 freestyle – 8:04.07
• Lani Pallister, women’s 1500 freestyle – 15:21.43
• Mollie O’Callaghan, women’s 50 backstroke – 25.49
• Kaylee McKeown, women’s 200 IM – 2:03.57
• Men’s 200 freestyle relay (Cooper, Temple, Southam, Chalmers) – 1:23.44
• Men’s 400 freestyle relay (Southam, Temple, Neill, Chalmers) – 3:04.63
• Men’s 800 freestyle relay (Neill, Chalmers, Southam, Horton) – 6:46.54
• Men’s 200 medley relay (Cooper, Bell, Temple, Chalmers) – 1:30.81
• Men’s 400 medley relay (Cooper, Yong, Temple, Chalmers) – 3:18.98 (WR)
• Women’s 200 freestyle relay (Harris, Wilson, O’Callaghan, McKeon) – 1:34.23
• Women’s 400 freestyle relay (O’Callaghan, Wilson, Harris, McKeon) – 3:25.43 (WR)
• Women’s 800 freestyle relay (Wilson, O’Callaghan, Neale, Pallister) – 7:30.87 (WR)
• Women’s 200 medley relay (O’Callaghan, Hodges, McKeon, Wilson) – 1:42.35 (WR)
• Women’s 400 medley relay (McKeown, Strauch, McKeon, Harris) – 3:44.92
• Mixed 200 freestyle relay (Chalmers, Temple, Harris, McKeon) – 1:28.03

*tied the record

The Canadian team wasn’t far behind, setting 16 new National Records, including two world records for Maggie MacNeil and a pair of World Junior Records for Ilya Kharun. This performance came despite the Canadian team missing some of their biggest stars, such as Summer McIntosh, Josh Liendo and Penny Oleksiak.

Canadian Records Broken At SC Worlds

• Javier Acevedo, men’s 50 backstroke – 23.05
• Ilya Kharun, men’s 50 butterfly – 22.28
• Ilya Kharun, men’s 100 butterfly – 49.03
• Ilya Kharun, men’s 200 butterfly – 1:50.86
• Javier Acevedo, men’s 100 IM – 51.03
• Finlay Knox, men’s 200 IM – 1:51.04
• Rebecca Smith, women’s 200 freestyle – 1:52.15
• Maggie MacNeil, women’s 50 backstroke – 25.25 (WR)
• Kylie Masse, women’s 200 backstroke – 2:01.26
• Maggie MacNeil, women’s 50 butterfly – 24.64
• Maggie MacNeil, women’s 100 butterfly – 54.05 (WR)
• Men’s 400 freestyle relay (Gaziev, Kisil, Acevedo, Kharun) – 3:07.10
• Women’s 400 freestyle relay (Smith, Ruck, MacNeil, Savard) – 3:28.06
• Women’s 200 medley relay (Masse, Pickrem, MacNeil, Ruck) – 1:43.56
• Women’s 400 medley relay (Wilm, Pickrem, MacNeil, Ruck) – 3:46.22
• Mixed 200 medley relay (Masse, Acevedo, Kharun, MacNeil) – 1:36.93

Australia finished second to the U.S. on the final medal table, while Canada took the fourth spot with three gold and 14 total medals.

Last year, Australia opted not to send an official team to compete at the 2021 Short Course World Championships in Abu Dhabi, and only had one swimmer, Holly Barratt, represent the Green & Gold at the competition.

The 26 medals the Aussie team won in Melbourne represent their highest total in nearly two decades, having won a high of 29 at the 2004 championships in Indianapolis.

Australia has finished atop the medal table five times in Short Course World Championship history, the latest coming in 2006. The 2022 championships also represent the first time Australia won more than two gold medals at the event since 2008, and the first time they eclipsed 20 total medals since 2006.