Elijah Winnington, Sam Short Post Top 2 Times In World This Season In 400 Freestyle

By Anya Pelshaw on SwimSwam

2024 AUSTRALIAN OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Wednesday, April 17th – Saturday, April 20th
• Prelims at 10am local (8pm previous night ET), Finals at 6pm local (4am ET)
• Gold Coast Aquatic Centre, Queensland, Australia
• LCM (50m)
• Non-Olympic Qualifying Event
• Women’s Races to Watch/Men’s Races to Watch
• Meet Central
• Final Start List
• Live Results (also available via Meet Mobile: “2024 Australian Open Championships”)
• Australian Channel 9 Livestream / YouTube Livestream

MEN’S 400 FREESTYLE — FINAL

• World Record – 3:40.07, Paul Biedermann (2009)
• Australian Record – 3:40.08, Ian Thorpe (2002)
• Commonwealth Record – 3:40.08, Ian Thorpe (2002)
• Australian Olympic QT – 3:45.43

GOLD – Elijah Winnington, 3:41.41
SILVER – Sam Short, 3:41.64
BRONZE – Kim Woomin, 3:45.12

Elijah Winnington and Sam Short posted the fastest two times in the World so far this season in the men’s 400 freestyle on night 1 of the Australian Open Championships as Winnington swam a 3:41.41 and Short was just behind in a 3:41.64. Those are the fastest two times this year by over a second.

Top 5 Times In The World This Season

1. Elijah Winnington, AUS, 3:41.41 (April 2024)
2. Sam Short, AUS, 3:41.64 (April 2024)
3. Woomin Kim, KOR, 3:42.71 (2024 Worlds)
4. Lucas Martens, GER, 3:42.96 (2024 Worlds)
5. Guilherme Costa, BRA, 3:44.22 (2024 Worlds)

The previous top time in the world this season stood at a 3:42.71 from Woomin Kim of South Korea who swam that time to win the event at the 2024 World Championships in Doha in February. Notably, Winnington finished just behind Kim in a 3:42.86. Winnington now leads the way *for the moment* with the Paris Olympics approaching this summer.

It is important to note that today’s meet was not an Olympic selection meet as Australian Trials are in June.

Finishing behind Winnington was Sam Short, who won the 2023 World Championship title in the event in a 3:40.68, a time that stands as his personal best time. Winnington and Short won back-to-back World titles in the event for Australia as Winnington won the 2022 World title in a 3:41.22, a time that still stands as his personal best before Short won the title in a 2023.

For both swimmers, today’s swims were their fastest swim since winning their respective World Titles. Neither swimmer had been under the 3:42 mark since their World titles in 2022 and 2023.

SwimSwam: Elijah Winnington, Sam Short Post Top 2 Times In World This Season In 400 Freestyle