Aussie breaks 24-year-old world record at national short course swimming titles

In short:

Rowan Crothers broke the men's S10 world record for the 200 metres freestyle at the Australian Short Course Championships.

Alex Tuckfield also swam under the previous word record in finishing second.

Maddie McTernan, Ed Sommerville and Ben Armbruster set national records in their respective events.

Two-time Paralympic gold medallist Rowan Crothers has set a men's S10 world record for the 200 metres freestyle at the Australian Short Course Championships in Sydney.

Competing in the 200m freestyle multiclass event, Crothers stopped the clock in 1 minute and 49.93 seconds.

Canada's Philippe Gagnon had held the previous world record of 1:52.83 since 2002.

Crothers's Australian teammate Alex Tuckfield also dipped under the mark, swimming 1:50.79 to finish second.

"I did not see that coming at all. Not even close," Crothers said.

"Unfortunately, the 200m freestyle isn't a Paralympic event for my classification (S1), but we're going to keep working on it and keep building on the 200m because it's just great training and it's going to help my 100m massively.

"That swim just gets me really excited for the future."

Tuckfield was full of praise for Crothers.

"Rowan is someone I definitely look up to," Tuckfield said.

"I take every opportunity to race him with heart. He's a lovely, lovely man. I want to be like him when I get to his level, and I will.

"Every time I race him, I get a bit better, and it shows with tonight's PB (personal best) that is under the world record … I couldn't be prouder that we both went under the world record."

Among other results, Maddie McTernan broke her S14 women's 200m freestyle national record, swimming 2:07.68.

Ed Sommerville and Ben Armbruster also set national records in the men's 200m freestyle and 50m butterfly respectively.

Sommerville swam 1:40.16, while Armbruster recorded a time of 21.90, becoming the first Australian to go under 22 seconds for the event.

Lani Pallister continued her outstanding 2026 season with an Australian all-comers record in the women's 1,500m freestyle.

Pallister, who won eight gold medals across the Commonwealth Games and Pan Pacific Championships earlier this year, swam 15:18.68.

She won the 200m freestyle final earlier in the evening, with a time of 1:51.99.