Aussie Sam Short beaten to gold by 0.02 of a second, reveals family tragedy in heartbreaking interview
Australia's Sam Short was out-touched for gold by just two hundredths of a second on the opening night of the swimming world championships, losing by an agonisingly close margin in the men's 400-metre freestyle to German Lukas Martens.
And in a heartbreaking post-race interview with Australian swimming legend Cate Campbell on the Nine broadcast on Sunday night, Short revealed a family tragedy had made for a tough build-up.
"This year's been so hard. No one really knows everything," Short said in Singapore.
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"I just want to dedicate that performance there to my aunty, who just passed away a couple of weeks ago.
"It's been really hard for my family recently.
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"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."
Martens, the gold medallist in the 400m freestyle at last year's Paris Olympics and the event's world record holder, won on Sunday night in three minutes, 42.35 seconds (3:42.35).
Short claimed silver with a time of 3:42.37 as South Korea's Woomin Kim grabbed bronze in 3:42.60.
Short, who won gold in the event at the 2023 world championships in Fukuoka, was shaking his head in the immediate moments after touching the wall, but the 21-year-old spoke with pride in his interview on Nine.
Sam Short after collecting silver in the men's 400m freestyle. Getty
In Paris a year ago, his Olympic campaign unravelled after a battle with illness and injury, so Sunday night's medal-winning performance was testament to his admirable comeback.
"I'm happy to be back on the podium after a hard last year, so I can't complain," Short said.
The Brisbane product also revealed in his interview that he'd spent most of the Dolphins' pre-world championships camp in quarantine with COVID-19.
From left to right: Sam Short, Lukas Martens and Woomin Kim during the medal ceremony. Getty
Australia's Elijah Winnington won silver in the event at the Paris Games but was eliminated in the heats at the world championships earlier on Sunday.
Australia secured two wins on night one of the world titles, with both the men's and women's 4x100m freestyle relay teams producing shock victories.
Night one also saw 18-year-old Canadian sensation Summer McIntosh win her first gold medal of the championships.
The Toronto-born superstar, who's aiming to become just the second swimmer in history to win five solo gold medals at a single long-course world championships, dominated the women's 400m freestyle final.