Robert Hurley has the 100-metre backstroke Commonwealth record in his crosshairs at this weekend's Australian Short Course Swimming Championships.

Fresh from setting an Australian record time of 50.01 seconds in a gold medal-winning World Cup performance in Berlin, the Illawarra star hopes he can improve again on home shores to best South African George Du Rand's Commonwealth mark of 50.00s.

"It would be great if I could go 49s in Sydney in front of a home crowd in my home pool," Hurley said.

"I was really proud of that time in 50.01 so I would really like to get under 50.

"Hopefully I am feeling good on the day and the little bit of travel and sickness hasn't taken it toll."

A flu-riddled Hurley is still adapting to the Australian winter after spending the majority of the past 12 months chasing the summer air on the swimming circuit.

Nevertheless, the star backstroker doesn't see it as an excuse not to perform.

"Even though I am a little bit sick or a little bit tired you just have to be able to motivate yourself and get yourself up to swim your best," Hurley said.

"You never know one day down the line, whether it's a World Championships or an Olympics, you might not be feeling your best on the day but you have got to be able perform under pressure and get the job done."

He missed out on that World Championship pressure earlier this year after failing to make the team for Barcelona.

As a result, he was forced to meet the world's best over the short course discipline in World Cup events in Berlin and Eindhoven.

"They were probably the strongest World Cup events of the last three or four years," Hurley said.

"It is the first time they have had these World Cup events straight off a long course World Championships so a lot of the top name swimmers were there.

"It was good for me to race those guys in the short course format and get the better of them."

Hurley claimed two golds in Berlin, getting the better of his rivals in the 100-metre and 50-metre backstroke.

He will contest both of these events at this weekend's season ending titles, as well as the 200-metre freestyle.

From then on, the star will base himself in Sydney in preparation for the Commonwealth Games trials next April.

"I am going to stay here for basically the next year and try and get myself back on the long course national team," Hurley said.

"It would be awesome to go to Scotland for the next Commonwealth Games - that is the next goal."