"Short course" vs "Long course"

If you've ever been at a swim meet and heard people discussing "short course" and "long course," you're not alone in asking what the difference is. It's one of the first pieces of swim jargon you'll hear when you get into competitive swimming.

Put simply, it’s all about the length of the swimming pool.

Short course events take place in a 25-meter pool

Long course events take place within a 50-meter pool

The Olympics are always long course and the World Championships alternate between short and long course. Local regional swim meets will also alternate between short and long course events.

Records for all swimming meets are maintained separately for short course and long course events. This is because there are twice as many turns in short course events and twice as many opportunities to use an underwater kick at each turn.

Below is a more detailed breakdown of each event type:

Short Course

• The short course swimming season typically runs during the colder months of the year from around May to September each year.
• Indoor 25-meter pools are used for competitions.
• Short course emphasises turns and starts. It has twice as many turns as long course, significantly impacting the race.
• Swimmers typically have faster times in short course due to more frequent turns and more opportunities to use underwater kicking

Australian Short Course Championships

Organised by Swimming Australia, this is the national short course championship event held in a 25m pool. It is a major event for Australian swimmers, attracting the best talent from around the country and emerging future stars.

This years event will take place on 1-3 October 2025 at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Center. Details about the event can be found here: https://www.swimming.org.au/events-results/events/2025-australian-short-course-championships

Long Course

• The long course swimming season in Australia runs over Spring and Summer, typically starting around October to April each year.
• Events are held in 50-meter pools and are often held as both indoor and outdoor events.
• Long course focuses on endurance and maintaining speed over longer distances.

Australian Open Championships

Organised by Swimming Australia, this is the national "long course" championship event held in a 50m pool. It's the highest-level domestic long course competition.

It was held on 21-24 April 2025 at the Brisbane Aquatic Center. More info about the event can be found here: https://www.swimming.org.au/events-results/events/2025-australian-open-championships

Record differences

In December 2024 Jordan Crooks became the first person in history to swim 50m in under 20 seconds! He achieved this world first in a "short course" swimming meet and when you watch the replay you can see why. Jordan's underwater work is second to none, his turn's are lightning fast and he's able to use 2 sets of underwater propulsion to drive him towards achieving a World Record of 19.90 seconds.

The differences between short and long course records are not typically as large for the shorter distance events. But for longer distance events, those milliseconds really start to add up!

At the time of writing this article, the 2 world records for the Female 400m events belong to:

Junior and Squad level swimming meets

Early on when junior swimmers first start out in competitive swimming you'll often find that their short course times start much slower than their long course times. This is simply a developmental issue that will change as they grow older and their ability to perform turns and accelerate out of them becomes stronger and stronger.

As swimmers in Australia experience both seasons, it highlights how different skills are tested throughout the year. No matter the length of the pool, the biggest lesson from short course racing is clear: dedicating practice time to improving turns and perfecting underwater dolphin kicks is one of the best ways to get faster.