Madison Maree Short, OAM (née Wilson; born 31 May 1994) is a former Australian competitive swimmer who has participated in backstroke and freestyle events at the Olympic Games and the FINA world championships. Wilson has been a member of six world record Australian relay teams, most recently at the 2022 Short Course World Championships.

Early and personal life

Although born in the South West Queensland town of Roma, Wilson grew up in Yeppoon on the Capricorn Coast where she attended Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School and swam with local swimming club Yeppoon Sharks where she was selected in her first Queensland team.

Wilson is married to Australian cricketer Matthew Short. The couple have a son, Austin Wilson Short.

Swimming career

Wilson won two medals as a member of Australian relay teams at the 2014 FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m) in Doha, Qatar: a silver in the women's 4×100-metre medley relay, and a bronze in the women's 4×200-metre freestyle relay.

At the 2015 World Aquatics Championships in Kazan, Russia, Wilson won three medals: a gold as a member of the winning Australian team in the women's 4×100-metre freestyle relay; a silver in the women's 100-metre backstroke; and a bronze in the women's 4×100-metre medley relay.

At the 2016 Summer Olympics, Wilson represented Australia in the 100 m backstroke, where she finished 8th in the final. However, as a heat swimmer for the 4x100metre freestyle and medley relay teams, she received a gold and a silver medal after the teams placed first and second in their respective finals.

In recognition of her success at the 2016 Summer Olympics, Wilson was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia in the 2017 Australia Day Honours.

Wilson again swam in the heats of the women's 4x100metre freestyle event at the 2020 Summer Olympics alongside Mollie O'Callaghan, Bronte Campbell and Meg Harris in July 2021, with the team posting the fastest qualifying time of 03:31:73. However, Wilson and O'Callaghan did not swim in the final with Emma McKeon and Cate Campbell selected to compete instead, taking the Australian relay team to victory. As heat swimmers, Wilson and O'Callaghan are still Olympic gold medal recipients.

World records

Long course metres

No.EventTimeMeetLocationDateStatusRef
14x200 m freestyle relay[a]7:41.502019 World Aquatic ChampionshipsGwangju, South Korea25 July 2019Former
24x100 m mixed freestyle relay[b]3:19.382022 World Aquatics ChampionshipsBudapest, Hungary24 June 2022Former
34x200 m freestyle relay (2)[c]7:39.292022 Commonwealth GamesBirmingham, United Kingdom31 July 2022Former

a split 1:56.73 (2nd leg); with Ariarne Titmus (1st leg), Brianna Throssell (3rd leg), Emma McKeon (4th leg) b split 52.25 (3rd leg); with Jack Cartwright (1st leg), Kyle Chalmers (2nd leg), Mollie O'Callaghan (4th leg) c split 1:56.27 (1st leg); with Kiah Melverton (2nd leg), Mollie O'Callaghan (3rd leg), Ariarne Titmus (4th leg)

Short course metres

No.EventTimeMeetLocationDateStatusRef
14x100 m freestyle relay[a]3:25.432022 World Championships (25 m)Melbourne, Australia13 December 2022Former
24x200 m freestyle relay[b]7:30.872022 World Championships (25 m)Melbourne, Australia14 December 2022Former
34x50 m medley relay[c]1:42.352022 World Championships (25 m)Melbourne, Australia17 December 2022Current

a split 51.28 (2nd leg); with Mollie O'Callaghan (1st leg), Meg Harris (3rd leg), Emma McKeon (4th leg) b split 1:53.13 (1st leg), with Mollie O'Callaghan (2nd leg), Leah Neale (3rd leg), Lani Pallister (4th leg) c split 23.32 (freestyle leg); with Mollie O'Callaghan (backstroke leg), Chelsea Hodges (breaststroke leg), Emma McKeon (butterfly leg)

Olympic records

Long course metres

No.EventTimeMeetLocationDateStatusNotesRef
14x100 m freestyle relay[a]3:32.39h2016 Summer OlympicsRio de Janeiro, Brazil6 August 2016Former

a split 54.11 (1st leg); with Brittany Elmslie (2nd leg), Bronte Campbell (3rd leg), Cate Campbell (4th leg)

See also

External links