Singapore: The Dolphins have been rocked by a food poisoning drama at the world swimming championships after Sam Short announced he will not line up in the 800m freestyle final on Wednesday night.

In a concerning development, just days after members of the United States team reported gastro issues before competition, Short announced he was pulling out of an event in which he was a major gold medal chance.

Short won a silver medal in the event at the 2023 world championships and was the second-fastest qualifier for tonight’s final. He was aiming to become the first Australian to win world championships gold in the 800m freestyle since Grant Hackett in 2005.

“Just wanted to let everyone know that I will not be doing the 800m final tonight after receiving medical advice,” Short wrote on Instagram. “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.

Loading

“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 4×200 relay on Friday. Sorry Australia.”

Short picked up a silver medal on the opening night of competition in the men’s 400m freestyle, just 0.02 seconds off world record holder Lukas Martens.

Australia still have a great gold medal hope on Wednesday night when Mollie O’Callaghan races in the women’s 200m freestyle final.