Flynn Southam stepped on to the blocks in the men's 100m freestyle final at the Australian short-course swimming championships wanting to make a statement swim of record proportions.
He may have missed the national record in Sydney on Wednesday night, but Southam has comfortably embraced the focus he has received after becoming the first Australian in almost 10 years to dethrone "King" Kyle Chalmers in the 100m freestyle, when he did so at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games.
"It's good to back up after Comm Games and be consistent, but it's been pretty hard to stay motivated and I'm pretty stoked with that time … bring on the world champs," Southam said.
"The last time I raced short-course was short-course worlds in Melbourne four years ago, so I'm really looking forward to racing the big dogs.
"As for expectation, bring on the pressure. Sometimes it does make me nervous, but I love it, and I breathe it. I froth it."
After scratching from the 200m free on the opening day, Southam was banking on the four-lap dash to punch his ticket to the world short-course championships in Beijing.
And he didn't just punch a ticket - he KO'd it, as his 45.61 was well under the qualifying time of 46.09.
Ed Sommerville finished second in 46.06, with Marcus Da Silva (46.55) third.
Only 24 athletes will be selected to compete in Beijing.
In the women's 100m freestyle, Olivia Wunsch went under 52 second for the first time, her 51.72 under the QT of 52.31.
"It was pretty special to go under 52 for the first time. Doing 52 at World Cups last year was nice, but I think I surprised myself a little bit off the sort of short prep I've had into short course, but really enjoyed that," Wunsch said.
With Alex Perkins scratching from the final, Lani Pallister claimed silver (53.18).
Jenna Forrester cracked the women's 400m individual medley national record, which had stood for 17 years.
Forrester's 4:28.39 eclipsed the previous mark of 4:28.72 set in 2009 and was well clear of the qualifying time of 4:32.20.
Amelie Smith was second, also under the QT (4:30.87), with Kayla Hardy third (4:32.79).
Iona Anderson led the charge in the 200m backstroke final, in which all top three finishers went under qualifying time (2:04.62).
Anderson held off Commonwealth Games champion Forrester to claim her second title of the meet in 2:03.00.
Fast-finishing Forrester (2:04.17) snatched second ahead of Alyssa Burgess (2:04.41).
Josh Collett backed up from his 100m breaststroke national record (56.61) to win the 50m breaststroke.
Collett's winning time of 26.09 was just a seventh of a second shy of Grayson Bell's record (26.02). Gideon Burnes (26.11) added a silver to his 100m breaststroke bronze, and James McKechnie finished third (26.49).
Rowan Crothers and Alex Tuckfield's standard of fast racing and close finishes continued as the S10 athletes pushed each other to the wall. Crothers equalled his national record of 23.04, with Tuckfield clocking 23.52.
