The Queenslander’s swimming career has already been marked by a series of setbacks. After narrowly missing selection for the Tokyo Olympics, Short miscounted his laps in the 1500m at the 2022 national trials and stopped 100 metres early.
Despite missing automatic qualification, Short was handed a discretionary spot and repaid selectors’ faith with 1500m freestyle gold at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games.
Just days before the 2022 world titles in Budapest, Short was diagnosed with a melanoma and underwent surgery. Last year, he fell ill before Australia’s Olympic trials, which impacted his preparation for Paris, where he failed to make the 800m final despite being the top-ranked swimmer in the world.
Following his 400m freestyle silver medal on Sunday night, Short revealed his aunt had passed away earlier this month.
“It’s been really hard for my family recently,” Short told Channel Nine. “However bad I was hurting there, it was nowhere near as bad as her battling cancer for 10 years. So I had to toughen up and get it done.”
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Short told this masthead on Tuesday he believed he could lower his personal best of 7:37.76 in the 800m freestyle final.
“I just wanted to be a bit safe,” Short said after his heat. “I had heaps left in the tank. This 800 free final is going to be stacked.”
Queenslander Benjamin Goedemans comes in as Short’s replacement for the final after clocking 7:48.66 in the heats.
Australia still have a great gold medal hope on Wednesday night when Mollie O’Callaghan races in the women’s 200m freestyle final. Jamie Perkins, in lane two, is also an outside chance at a medal.