Lani Pallister dethrones Katie Ledecky to say Pan Pacs 400m freestyle crown | Swimming

Lani Pallister and Sam Short have showcased Australia’s glittering 2028 Olympic middle-distance swimming prospects by claiming a number of gold medals on the Pan Pacific championships in California.

The 24-year-old Pallister continued her gorgeous meet when she downed American legend Katie Ledecky to win the 400m freestyle title on Saturday (AEST), following her 200m freestyle victory over Canadian celebrity Summer McIntosh and silver behind Ledecky within the 1500m free, in addition to gold within the 200m free relay.

“It’s been an incredible week,” Pallister mentioned. “Chasing my goals, chasing dreams and having fun doing it.”

Short backed up his 800m freestyle gold when he clocked a career-best time of three minutes 40.52 seconds to win the lads’s 400 freestyle, eclipsing the nice Ian Thorpe’s Pan Pacs meet report of three:41.83 set in Sydney in 1999, 4 years earlier than Short was born.

He received from China’s Zhang Zhanshuo (3:42.42) and American Aaron Shackell (3:43.44) on the William Woollett Aquatics Center in Irvine.

“I thought I was going 3:39. I had so much ​left for the end, but personal best – can’t complain, and to beat Thorpe’s record … it’s about time it went,” Short mentioned.

“He was one of my heroes growing up. I’ve watched every single one of his races.”

Both Pallister (800m) and Short (1500m) have the prospect so as to add extra gold to their carry-on baggage on the ultimate day of competitors.

Pallister was underneath world-record tempo in her 400m closing by way of 150 metres, earlier than touching in 3:58.42. Ledecky had over a second to make up on the ultimate lap and took silver in 4:00.15.

“I could see Katie catching me on the last 150 and that’s a very nerve-racking feeling,” mentioned Pallister, who additionally received 4 gold medals and a silver on the latest Commonwealth Games.

“The back end got me. Gosh, it hurt a lot. But it’s so much fun standing up in an international final and racing the best in the world and trying to challenge for top times.”

The 29-year-old Ledecky was philosophical about her loss to Pallister.

“I never like being over four minutes in an international final, but I put together the best race I could,” she mentioned. “I thought I had a good back half, just wasn’t out quick enough.

“I’ve never taken my competition for granted, even when I was winning by big margins. I just have a lot of great competition from all over the world right now.”

Australia’s Sam Williamson received the lads’s 50m breaststroke in a championship-record time of 26.36 seconds. American Van Mathias and Michael Houlie of South Africa tied for silver in 26.42.

And Aussies additionally went 1-2 within the males’s 100 butterfly, with Matthew Temple successful gold and teammate Ben Armbruster incomes silver.

The US swept the 4x100m freestyle relays, beating Australia in each the lads’s and ladies’s races. The ladies hadn’t defeated the Aussies within the occasion since 2017.