Pallister dethrones idol for another gold as rival’s blunder proves costly
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Lani Pallister has dethroned her swimming idol, Katie Ledecky, to claim gold in the women’s 400m freestyle at the Pan Pacific championships on Saturday (AEST).
Clocking a blistering time of 3:58.42, Pallister secured her third gold medal in just three days during day three at the swimming championships.
Lani Pallister picked up her third gold medal in three days. Maddie Meyer
The highly anticipated final was blown wide open earlier in the day when world record holder and reigning champion Summer McIntosh failed to qualify.
Primarily known as an 800m and 1500m specialist, Pallister proved her speed over shorter distances, leaving Ledecky in her wake to win by nearly two seconds.
The victory continues a phenomenal meet for the Australian, who had already stunned McIntosh on night one to claim victory in the 200m freestyle.
“They felt good until they didn’t. I did the first 50, and after having two really good 200s at the start of the week, I knew I had easy speed and I think it got me on the… on the back end,” Pallister said after the race.
“It’s just been the most incredible 18 months. Just chasing my goals, chasing dreams, and having fun doing it.”
Joining Pallister in the winner’s circle was Sam Short, who delivered a spectacular swim in the men’s 400m freestyle.
Short narrowly missed out on lowering the world record, but his winning time of 3:40.52 set a new US Open and Pan Pac championships record.
Notably, the blistering swim broke Australian legend Ian Thorpe’s long-standing Pan Pacs record, which had been held since 1999.
The Australian men continued to dominate across the board to close out the session as Ben Armbruster and Matthew Temple took 1-2 in the men’s 100m fly, Temple taking a championship record with a 50.39.
Sam Williamson continued his dominance in the 50m breaststroke, taking gold in a tense final and both Australian men and women’s 4x100m relay teams fell to a dominant American team.
In the biggest upset of day three, the 19-year-old Canadian superstar McIntosh appeared to conserve too much energy during the morning heats.
Caught off guard by the intensity of the qualifiers, McIntosh clocked 4:08.56 - more than 14 seconds slower than her world record.
She finished third in her heat behind Pallister (4:05.22) and was agonisingly out-touched by China’s Fan Yaqi by two-tenths of a second, which cost McIntosh the eighth and final qualifying spot for the A final.
Summer McIntosh of Canada. Getty Images.
The miscalculation meant the Canadian star, who took home silver behind Australia’s Ariarne Titmus at the 2024 Paris Olympics, was relegated to the B final.
“I take full responsibility for my misjudgement in this morning’s heats,” McIntosh shared on social media.
“I will see you all in the B final tonight and thank you for your support.”
McIntosh went on to win the B final by more than a pool length in just a touch over four minutes, but her costly morning error provided a major opening for Pallister in the main event.