Silver for Max Giuliani caps Australia's 'successful ' campaign at World Short Course Championships

Australia has wrapped up its campaign at the World Short Course Championships in Budapest with a medal on the final day of competition.

Max Giuliani claimed his first international medal with silver in the men's 200m freestyle final.

Giuliani touched the wall in a personal best time of 1:40.36 which also set a new national and Oceania record.

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American Luke Hobson (1:38.61) stormed home in world-record time to win gold with Belgian Lucas Henveaux (1:41.13) rounding out the podium places.

To make Giuliani's feat more impressive, the 21-year-old quickly backed up in the men's 4x100m medley relay.

Within half an hour, Giuliani had changed into his podium tracksuit and stepped onto the dais to receive his bronze medal before putting his swimmers back on and anchoring the relay team to sixth place.

Finishing the meet with silverware and the chance to swim alongside teammates Isaac Cooper, Josh Yong and Matt Temple, Giuliani was grateful for the opportunities in the absence of a full-strength sqaud.

"I knew it was going to hurt, backing up for the relay, but I can't complain," he said afterwards.

"To do a PB, get a national and Oceania record [and] win my first international senior podium, I can't be too disappointed.

"Then to swim with my mates in a relay, which I love doing — I'm pretty happy."

With Giuliani's silver medal, Australia finished the meet with two gold, five silver and five bronze to sit fourth on the final medal tally.

A staggering 22 personal-best times were also set by the Dolphins squad across the six days of competition.

With all eyes now turned to the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games, campaign head coach Simon Cusack believed the experience of the championships would prove invaluable for all members of the 24-strong team, but especially the nine rookies.

"This has been an incredibly successful campaign," he said in a statement from Swimming Australia.

"For the first time, the rookies have had to juggle a lot of swims that they wouldn't have got on a full team. We've pulled swimmers from everywhere and the relays have punched above their weight.

"What you're seeing here are the names you're going to see on the runway to the LA Olympics.

"It's not often that a rookie such as Milla Jansen would get 11 or 12 gun starts at a meet — that kind of exposure is so valuable and it's against world-class athletes.

"In addition to learning how to manage workload, they're learning how to manage travel, different time zones, different diets, etc.

"The swimmers at this meet are the future."