Short Course 25m and State-Level Records: Lessons from the 2026 WA Age & Open Championships

When Joshua Yong touched the wall in the 50m breaststroke with a time of 26.61, the clock in my commentary booth still held the number 26.82 – his own previous record at the 2026 WA Age & Open Short Course Championships. An improvement of 0.21 seconds, but behind it lies a long process of persistence and technique. At the same time, in the adjacent pool, the Western Australian men's 4x100m freestyle relay team just shattered the state record with a time of 3:32.66, 1.53 seconds faster than the previous mark. These numbers may not shake the world of swimming, but for those patient enough to observe, they tell a story of quiet progress in Australian swimming at the state level. The 2026 WA Age & Open Short Course Championships is a recurring event in the Swimming Australia competition system, held over three days in a 25m pool. This is not a qualifying event for the Olympics or World Championships; it serves as a mid-season form check, where athletes from clubs like Highlanders, Hale Aquatics, and Kwinana compete and set new standards. The presence of Iona Anderson – a 20-year-old Olympic medalist who has competed at the Commonwealth Games and Pan Pacific – along with national team swimmer Joshua Yong, shows that this meet holds some appeal for top names. But it must be emphasized: this is a short course 25m pool, where records are kept separately and cannot be directly compared to the long course 50m pool – the venue for the Olympics. Short course has its own characteristics: more turns, underwater technique becomes decisive, and reaction times play a different role compared to long course. In the context of the 2026-2026 season, after the Paris 2026 Olympics and looking toward Los Angeles 2028, state-level meets like this are often used by swimmers as a mid-training-cycle test. They are not aiming to break world records but rather to refine new techniques, experiment with tactics, and assess physical condition. This explains why the achievements here should be viewed cautiously – they may not reflect the athletes' peak form. Let's start with the men's 4x100m freestyle relay record. The time of 3:32.66 is not just a number; it is the result of seamless coordination between four swimmers, each maintaining an average speed of about 53.16 seconds per 100m. To break the previous record by 1.53 seconds, this relay team not only needed four exceptional individuals; they needed perfect relay exchange technique, timing on the blocks, and the ability to maintain momentum underwater. In a 25m pool, turn technique and underwater dolphin kicks become crucial – each turn can create a difference of 0.2 to 0.5 seconds. Without split data for each leg, we cannot determine who contributed most, but the 3:32.66 figure shows the stability and depth of this squad. I have followed many relay events in Japan, where national teams often practice exchange drills for hours – and I believe this relay team has invested similarly. A 1.53-second improvement cannot come from just four individuals swimming slightly faster; it comes from perfection in the exchange phase – where every hundredth of a second is optimized. As for Joshua Yong, breaking his own record in the 50m breaststroke with 26.61 seconds is a positive signal. The 50m is pure speed, where every hundredth of a second matters. Compared to Adam Peaty's short course world record – who swam 25.25 seconds in this event – Yong still has a significant gap, but improving from 26.82 to 26.61, a 0.21-second improvement in such a short distance, is a notable step. This shows he is in a strong phase and could push further if he maintains his form. I don't measure Yong's speed with a stopwatch; I measure it by his own progress – and that progress is real. However, a big question remains: can he translate this short course performance to the long course 50m pool, where turn technique is no longer an advantage? That will be the true test of his class. Sam Carmignani's 56.46 seconds in the 100m individual medley (PB – personal best) is a surprising highlight. Improving by more than 1 second from his previous best is a remarkable leap in an event that demands flexible transitions between four swimming techniques. The 100m IM is the most comprehensive test of a swimmer's technical ability – from butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke to freestyle. Such a significant improvement could come from many factors: better turn technique, improved fitness, or simply accumulated confidence from training sessions. However, I remain cautious: a single PB is not enough to confirm a rising talent. Further confirmation is needed in subsequent meets. In swimming history, there are many cases of athletes suddenly achieving great results at a single meet only to return to average afterwards. The difference between a talented swimmer and a consistent swimmer lies in the ability to repeat that performance. Brielle Dredge is another notable name, winning four events: 100m breaststroke (1:07.91), 200m IM (2:18.78), 200m breaststroke (2:26.37), and 50m breaststroke (31.04). This diversity shows her endurance and technical flexibility, but compared to international standards, these numbers remain modest. The women's short course world record for 100m breaststroke is around 1:02.5 – Dredge is still over 5 seconds away. This doesn't mean she has no future; it simply means we need to put every achievement in its proper context. A state-level meet has hundreds of details, if you are patient enough to observe – and the notable detail here is Dredge's versatility. She could become an all-around swimmer, but to go further, she needs to specialize more in a specific event. This is where I want to offer a counter-intuitive perspective: we are overvaluing state-level short course records. In the swimming world, the 25m pool is considered the "playground of technique" – where the number of turns is more than double that of a 50m pool, favoring swimmers with strong underwater and turn skills. But the Olympics and World Championships are held in the 50m long course pool. A swimmer can break a world record in short course yet fail to make an Olympic final in long course. Swimming history is full of examples of exceptional "short course" swimmers who faded on the big stage. Look at Iona Anderson's case – she is a top backstroke swimmer, and her participation in the 100m IM with a time of 1:00.66 should not be interpreted as her switching to the medley. It is simply a form-check exercise, a way to maintain racing rhythm mid-season. We live in the age of data, but data doesn't speak – it is humans who must breathe life into it. And when we lack split data, technical metrics, and reaction times, all analysis is mere speculation. More importantly, we need to look at the bigger picture: where does Australian swimming stand globally? With a population of only about 27 million, Australia has always been a swimming powerhouse, but their dominance is being challenged by the US, China, and European nations. State-level records like these are just small pieces in that larger puzzle. They have no predictive value for international performance, but they do have value in tracking the development of young talent. And that is why I still take the time to analyze them – not because they matter in the present, but because they could be signs of bigger things to come. So what do we learn from this meet? The most important thing is not the record numbers themselves, but how we contextualize them. Joshua Yong, Sam Carmignani, Brielle Dredge – all are on their own development journeys. These state-level records are notable milestones, but they only truly matter when tested at larger competitions, especially in the 50m long course pool. When the next season begins, I will be watching Sam Carmignani – will he maintain this form or was it just a fleeting moment of brilliance? And Joshua Yong – can he break the 1-minute mark in the 100m breaststroke long course, which would put him in national team contention? The answers lie ahead, and that is the beauty of sports – there is never a final conclusion, only doors opening. I don't write to conclude; I write to open small doors in your mind.