Winnington & Short Deliver Trials Race Of The Day On 3:43s In Their Latest Stroke-For-Stroke 400 Free En Route To Paris
Elijah Winnington and Sam Short, World champions over 400m freestyle on the last two occasions when the best in the world gathered in global competition, are rarely more that 0.something apart and today’s duel at Olympic trials in Brisbane was no different: it ended with both on the plane to Paris with tickets stamped at 3:43.26 and 3:43.90 respectively.
If Ariarne Titmus and Kaylee McKeown produced the performances of the day, then Winnington and Short delivered the race of day 1 in Brisbane.
Their last stroke-for-stroke thriller ended 3:41.41 to 3:41.64 in favour of the 22-year-old 2022 World champion (3:41.22), Winnington, the 20-year-old 2023 champion (3:40.68) then and today ensuring that Australia will arrive in Paris with two podium, if not title, contenders over eight lengths.
They needed to clear the cut of 3:45.43 but the bigger thing about these teammates is the memory they evoke of Ian Thorpe‘s tussles with Grant Hackett all those years ago. Winnington, coached by Dean Boxall at St Peters Western, and Short, coached by Damien Jones at Rackley, have made a 400m the kind of constant close call of decimals that sprinters are more familiar with.
Both get ever closer to casting off Thorpey’s mantle and making themselves a part of the fast-and-furious furniture of Australia’s towering distance freestyle legacy.
Thorpe remains the king of the 400m free, all three of his all-time Aussie top 3 swims a world-record in its day, his 3:40.08 of 2002 still the world best in textile his 3:40.17 of 2001 a World-title pace never surpassed in textile, and his 3:40.59 of Sydney 2000 part of one of the most golden debuts in the history of all Olympic sports: Act 1, Scenes 1 and 2 leading to two golds, two World records and an historic defeat of the mighty USA in the 4x100m free relay.
Its 2024 and the day of 3:39 is still nigh but that day was not this day.
Here’s how it went, the closeness of men and splits making a mockery of any notion of ebb and flow as they pulled, kicked and strived as one:
25.68; 53.56 (27.88) 1:21.95 (28.39) 1:50.47 (28.52) 2:19.05 (28.58) 2:47.72 (28.67) 3:16.07 (28.35) 3:43.26 (27.19) Winnington
26.04; 53.91 (27.87) 1:21.93 (28.02) 1:50.40 (28.47) 2:18.98 (28.58) 2:47.94 (28.96) 3:16.50 (28.56) 3:43.90 (27.40) Short
Third place wen t to Ben Goedemans, the winner’s teammate at St Peters Western, in 3:48.66.
Nicole Jeffery met up with the men with other media in Brisbane after battle and here’s how the chat panned out:
How much were you feeding off each other? Elijah …
“Yeah definitely. I think that’s what Sam and I always do. I just mentioned before that I think for the past three or four 400m freestyle finals we’ve been together, it’s been like point three or something apart every single time. So we always fight and we always race each other. Yeah, tonight was ultimately though about just getting the box ticked and making the team. I think we’re pretty fortunate that this is one of the first years… that we haven’t had maybe a third or fourth swimmer that’s been really close to us so the pressure was off a little bit in that sense, but we still have to go a time that’s top eight in the world to qualify.”
Elijah Winnington – Photo: Winnington, right, and St Peters teammate Ben Goedemans, at 2024 Olympic trials in Brisbane, by Delly Carr, courtesy of Swimming Australia
Sam: “It definitely makes you better. I’m a racer, you know, that’s what I love doing.”
Everyone looks at times, but how important is racing?
Elijah: “It’s super important. Ultimately in Paris, you can win in a 3:45 or a 3:39 but you’re still going to be Olympic gold medalist and I think that’s the biggest thing. That’s the difference between the Olympics and any other major competition is that it’s purely a race.”
How much is this rivalry with Sam making you a better athlete?
Elijah: “So much better. Sam is so much younger than me and he’s pushing me all the time, and we’re within .2-.3 of each other every single race we do so I know when I’m at training I’m thinking about Sam and making sure I’m pushing myself and I’m sure that Sam does the same and I think that’s why Thorpey and Hackett was so good and that’s why you guys always sort of compare us to them. It’s just because they were then pushing each other all the time and they kept making each other better. So I’m I’m very fortunate to have Sam. As much as it’s sometimes sucks having one of the best 400 freestylers in the world also as the guy you have best domestically at the state championships, but we push each other and I think that’s what makes us great.”
Sam, you’ve won world titles … you didn’t make the team last time. How much did that drive you?
Sam: “A lot. That was probably pretty disappointing coming off the back of 2021 with no junior team opportunities because I’ve only 17, so that’s what drove me probably to make team in 2022 and the success I had last year, and you know onwards and upwards, because I’m finally going to Paris.”
In Other Finals:
Titmus Rattles Her WR With 3:55.44 Storm On Opening Night At Australian Olympic Trials – including Paris tickets for Sam Williamson, Josh Yong in the 100m breaststroke and Queen Of Tokyo 2020ne, Emma McKeon, in the 100m butterfly
McKeown 2:06.63 Commonwealth 200IM Mark Confirms Dolphin A Flip For Paris Gold