Swimming World championships: Samuel Short withdraws from final
The 21-year-old was looking to win his second individual medal of the world championships after claiming silver in the 400m freestyle event on Sunday night. And he was primed for another chance to get on the podium after qualifying for Wednesday night's 800m freestyle final as the second-fastest swimmer.
The 800m is Short's preferred event, with the Australian having swum the third-fastest time in the world this season and also claiming the silver medal at the 2023 World Championships in Fukuoka with the fastest time ever by an Australian.
However, Short posted to Instagram on Wednesday afternoon, confirming that he would not participate in the race, apologising to his fans back in Australia.
'Just wanted to let everyone know that I will not be doing the 800m final tonight after receiving medical advice,' Short posted.
Samuel Short won silver in the 400m, and was a great medal hope in the 800m final. Picture: Getty Images
'Extremely emotional after this decision, as I was very excited to showcase what I can do and the training I have done! I still believe this is my best race distance and I was ready for a PB.
'After an awesome heat swim which I felt phenomenal, I got very ill very fast, which we believe is food poisoning from my hotel lunch. I have only been consuming meals from the hotel. My afternoon and night has been full of vomiting and all the other nasty stuff that comes with food poisoning! Not pleasant and extremely draining.
'I had full intention of competing if I started to show signs of improvement. However this has not happened. I am going to try my best to recover as well as possible to help my team in the 4x200 relay on Friday. Sorry Australia.'
Many of his Dolphins teammates were quick to offer their support in the comments, including Kyle Chalmers, Lani Pallister and Ariarne Titmus.
It's also not the first instance of food poisoning disrupting these World Championships, with the American team hampered by a bout of gastro that is believed to have stemmed from a training camp in Thailand.
Short will have two days to recover before reassessing his health ahead of the 4x200m freestyle relay heats on Friday.
Originally published as Swimming World championships: 'Devastated' Samuel Short withdraws from 800m finals
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