Australian swim star in doubt for 200m individual medley at Commonwealth Games due to illness; Sam Williamson secures selection
Updated ,first published
Sam Short flirted with a world record and Kaylee McKeown sacrificed what appeared to be an almost certain Commonwealth Games gold medal, but it was Sam Williamson’s remarkable victory after a devastating knee injury last year that provided the feel-good story on the opening night of the Australian swimming trials in Sydney.
Just 13 months after rupturing a patellar tendon in a freak gym accident, Williamson won the men’s 100m breaststroke to secure selection for next month’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and the Pan Pacific Championships in California, after which he told reporters with a big grin: “I’m coming back.”
After a failed boxing dive left “my knee halfway up my thigh”, Williamson spent months learning to walk again. On Monday night, the 2024 world champion in the 50m breaststroke completed one of Australian swimming’s most stunning comebacks, touching the wall in 59.07 seconds, just off her personal best of 58.80.
The 28-year-old admitted that until last week he didn’t really believe a return to this level was possible.
“I’m probably going to go home tonight and cry a little bit and figure it all out,” Williamson said. “Being able to say I’m back is a dream come true. It’s worth all those mornings when I wanted to throw in the towel.”
“I literally had to learn to walk again, then I had to learn to swim again. “As I lay on the surgeon’s table, I didn’t think I was going back.
“Knowing that I was falling further and further behind each day made getting out of bed an impossible task every morning. Every morning I woke up and wanted to throw in the towel, but every morning there was someone waiting for me at the gym.
“I really thought this would be a career-ending injury.”
Building an Australian team is always special, as stars like Short, McKeown, Lani Pallister and Mollie O’Callaghan will confirm again on Monday night. But given all he’s endured over the past year, Williamson’s return has been the talk of the poolside.
“Mentally, it’s chalk and cheese for who I was 18 months ago,” Williamson said. “I think after that injury and everything I’ve overcome, nothing can break me anymore.”
In the first final of the six-day event, 45 days before the Commonwealth Games, Short seriously threatened the 400m freestyle world record, which Germany’s Lukas Märtens had lowered since last year.
The Australian was 0.22 seconds off world record pace at the halfway mark and still led by 0.01 seconds with one lap to go before Märtens’ arms and lungs really started to burn, knowing that his final lap of the race was particularly strong.
Short stopped the clock at 3:40.67; It was still a personal best by 0.01 seconds and his fastest time since 2023, but his reaction in the warm-up pool after trainer Damien Jones transferred his splits suggested it was a case of mixed emotions for the former world champion, who said he would give his “right leg” to get under that world record.
While Ian Thorpe’s Commonwealth record of 3:40.08, set in 2002, remained intact, the Australian great’s world record of 3:40.59, set in the same pool at the Sydney Olympics, was also out of Short’s reach. Olympic silver medalist Elijah Winnington finished second with a time of 3:44.17.
With Märtens missing from both the Commonwealth Games and the Pan Pacs, Short will not be defeated again until next year’s world championships in Budapest.
“I know there’s room to go. I’m not surprised by this time,” Short said a year later, after taking the world championship silver medal from Märtens with a time of 3:42.37. “I’ve done some pretty crazy things [in training]. I knew I was in a fever pitch. God, it hurt the last 50.
“I’m a little obsessed with the 3:39 barrier. I bust my ass every day to get it. I know I spent a lot of money on one of those turns. I wish I could race Lukas this year.”
Pallister finished the 400m final in 3:59.72 but admitted he wanted to be faster, having achieved a breakthrough world championships finish in Singapore last year where he finished on the podium in the 800m and 1500m freestyle.
Meanwhile, McKeown will forgo a Commonwealth Games gold medal due to illness, forcing her to miss the women’s 200m individual medley (IM) race.
McKeown, who holds the Australian record for the event, withdrew from the 200m IM heats on Monday morning but went on to win the 50m backstroke final.
While McKeown is known as a backstroker who won gold medals in the 100 meters and 200 meters at both the Olympics and world championships, the 200 meters IM appeared to be a major medal opportunity at the Commonwealth Games due to the absence of reigning world champion Summer McIntosh.
McKeown said he knew he had to pull back his schedule, which already included four separate events, due to illness on Friday.
Three swimmers – Jenna Forrester (2:09.40), Ella Ramsay (2:09.40) and Tara Kinder (2:10.14) – are out of the Australian Swimming rankings in the 200m IM final, meaning McKeown will not be able to compete in the race in Glasgow.
“You can’t avoid these things in life. Unfortunately, that’s how the dice rolled for me,” McKeown said.
At this stage of his career, having already claimed four individual Olympic gold medals, missing out on a 200m IM event in the Commonwealth is not the end of the world.
He preferred to dominate in the backstroke races and beat his close friend O’Callaghan by 0.06 seconds in the single lap race, enabling him to qualify for another national team.
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Tom Decent is chief sports writer for The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect with: X or email.
