{"id":298480,"date":"2023-05-19T22:34:36","date_gmt":"2023-05-19T22:34:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=298480"},"modified":"2023-05-19T23:58:35","modified_gmt":"2023-05-19T23:58:35","slug":"gun-aussie-teen-who-left-hackett-in-disbelief","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=298480","title":{"rendered":"Gun Aussie teen who left Hackett in 'disbelief'"},"content":{"rendered":"

Boom youngster Sam Short is a realistic hope of claiming an Olympic<\/a> gold medal in Paris, according to Australian legend Grant Hackett<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Hackett said he was in "disbelief" after Short's performance at April's Australian Swimming Championships on the Gold Coast, with the 19-year-old clocking the 10th fastest time in history for the 400m freestyle.<\/p>\n

Short's time of 3:42.46 \ufeffwould have won gold at the Tokyo Olympics, and was faster than Hackett ever managed over the distance during his own glittering career.<\/p>\n

\ufeffAS IT HAPPENED:<\/strong> NRL Round 12 Friday<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\ufeffREAD MORE:<\/strong> Radley in hot water over mid-brawl 'headbutt' on Dragon<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Dragons end nightmare week with fairytale finish<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Making the performance even more remarkable was the fact Short hadn't tapered for the event.<\/p>\n

His time was nearly a second quicker than anybody else has posted for the 400m freestyle this year, and makes the Queenslander one to watch at the world titles in Japan in July.<\/p>\n

Short's rapid rise means he'll vie with 2016 Olympic champion Mack Horton<\/a>, reigning world champion Elijah Winnington<\/a> and fellow young-gun Tommy Neil for the two spots on the Australian team in the 400m.<\/p>\n

"The fact he's still a teenager, to be producing those sorts of times is amazing. I think the 400m time took everyone by surprise," Hackett told Wide World of Sports.<\/p>\n

"It's a remarkable time, I was blown away when I saw it. I was in a bit of disbelief at first when I saw it was a 3:42, because he's more known for his distance. It's the most depth Australia has seen in the 400m freestyle in 20 years."<\/p>\n

The World Swimming Championships will be live on Nine and 9Now in July.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The 400m isn't even Short's preferred event. That's the 1500m freestyle, an event almost synonymous with Australia over the decades. From Andrew 'Boy' Charlton, to Murray Rose, Jon Konrads, Bob Windle, Kieren Perkins and Hackett himself, Australia has a rich Olympic history over the distance.<\/p>\n

Short claimed gold in the 1500m at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, having missed selection for Tokyo a year earlier. He'd swum the Olympic qualifying time, but was left off the team because his time was outside the more stringent AOC qualifying mark.<\/p>\n

\"Sam<\/p>\n

Just 17-years-old at the time, it was an experience that could have de-railed a mentally fragile swimmer, but it appears to have had the opposite effect on Short.\ufeff<\/p>\n

"It seems like he's taken that away and used it for motivation, because he's stepped up every season since then," Hackett said.<\/p>\n

"A lot of people can be so disheartened by something like that they can become disengaged from the sport.<\/p>\n

"You can't be only 99.9 per cent committed to swimming, it's not that type of sport.<\/p>\n

"He's used all his experiences, both good and bad, to drive him forward, and that's a testament to his character."<\/p>\n

Short could easily find himself swimming three events in Paris, combining the 400m, 800m and 1500m.<\/p>\n

\"Elijah<\/p>\n

In addition to his 400m heroics, Short also has the third quickest 800m time in the world this year.\ufeff<\/p>\n

"To combine the 400m and the 1500m is tough. You're up against guys that might swim the 200m who can take it out super quick," Hackett explained.<\/p>\n

"To put the 800m and the 1500m together is much simpler, they're much more similar.\ufeff<\/p>\n

"It's a really difficult juggling act to get all of that right, but Sam seems to be mastering that.\ufeff"<\/p>\n

Any thoughts of flying under the radar are well and truly out the window after his eye-catching performance on the Gold Coast, but according to Hackett, that's a type of pressure Short will embrace.<\/p>\n

\"Sam<\/p>\n

"Everyone knows your name now, everyone's looking at you and marking you as the one to beat," he explained.<\/p>\n

"It definitely creates a different dynamic in terms of pressure, but what I've seen from Sam is that as he progresses and achieves more, it seems to motivate him and push him to improve even more.<\/p>\n

"He seems to be the kind of athlete who likes this type of pressure. I can see him going from strength to strength from here.\ufeff<\/p>\n

"When you're in the range he's in right now, you are a major contender for the gold medal.\ufeff"<\/p>\n

\ufeffFor a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here<\/strong><\/em><\/a>!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Boom youngster Sam Short is a realistic hope of claiming an Olympic gold medal in Paris, according to Australian legend Grant Hackett. Hackett said he […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":298482,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298480"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=298480"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298480\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":298487,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298480\/revisions\/298487"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/298482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=298480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=298480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=298480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}