Agostina Hein didn’t take long to recover from surgery. After picking up two national records last weekend in her post-scoliosis surgery comeback, the Argentine has nabbed another two this weekend.
Competing in the Copa Sierras in San Luis, Argentina, Hein downed her country’s marks in the short course 400 IM and 200 fly.
The 400 IM, Hein’s best event, was on the chopping block first. She raced to a time of 4:32.73, beating her time from last week – which was also a national record – by nearly a second. The record is still slower than her best time in the long course version of the event, 4:32.54. This suggests there could be more room for improvement at Short Course Worlds in Beijing this December.
For now, though, Hein checks in just outside the global top ten in the race.
| 2 | Waka KOBORI |
JPN | 4:26.99 | 10/15 |
| 3 | Abbie WOOD |
GBR | 4:27.38 | 10/15 |
| 4 | Jenna Forrester |
AUS | 4:28.39 | 09/30 |
| 5 | Mohan CHANG |
CHN | 4:28.76 | 10/02 |
| 6 | Ellen WALSHE |
IRL | 4:29.13 | 10/02 |
| 7 | Amelie Smith |
AUS | 4:30.87 | 09/30 |
| 8 | Shiki Takayama |
JPN | 4:31.24 | 10/11 |
| 9 | Aoi Ichio |
JPN | 4:31.70 | 10/11 |
| 10 | Ayami Suzuki |
JPN | 4:32.09 | 10/11 |
| 11 | Kayla Hardy |
AUS | 4:32.79 | 09/30 |
Later in the meet, Hein set her sights on the 200 fly. This was an event in which she was not yet the national record holder. That accolade still belonged to 2004 Olympic medalist Georgina Bardach at 2:10.56. It was her only national record that Hein had yet to break.
Bardach no longer remains on the country’s record board. Hein delivered a 2:10.06 in the event to snag Bardach’s final mark.
Hein now holds a lucky 13 national records across long course and short course. See the list below:
Short Course
- 100 free 54.16
- 200 free 1:56.30
- 400 free 4:04.17
- 100 fly 58.90
- 200 fly 2:10.06
- 200 IM 2:08.70
- 400 IM 4:32.73
Long Course
- 200 free 1:58.79
- 400 free 4:02.99
- 800 free 8:22.01
- 100 fly 58.82
- 200 IM 2:10.63
- 400 IM 4:32.54
The teenager went under emergency appendix surgery about two months ago. At the beginning of September, Hein posted that she would be missing out on the home South American Games due to the surgery.
Fans can expect Hein to compete at the 2026 Short Course World Championships in Beijing. Argentina’s swimming confederation announced her on their roster, alongside Macarena Ceballos, Malena Santillan, and Cecilia Dieleke.
