NewzLani Pallister of Australia stunned Katie Ledecky with her first international loss in the 800-meter freestyle at the Pan Pacific Championships. Pallister sets new championship record with time of 8:06.10Result ends Ledecky’s streak of 13 international 800m gold medals Australia’s Lani Pallister dealt US great Katie Ledecky her first 800m freestyle defeat in a major international meet, beating her one-time idol at the Pan Pacific Championships in Irvine, California.Pallister led wire-to-wire on the way to victory in 8min 06.10sec and for the first time ever in the event Ledecky’s late charge wasn’t enough and she finished second in 8:07.26. (AP) — Lani Pallister of Australia stunned Katie Ledecky with her first international loss in the 800-meter freestyle at the Pan Pacific Championships on Saturday night.Pallister was under world-record pace for much of the race and touched in 8 minutes, 6.10 seconds to erase Ledecky's championship record from 2018.Ledecky took silver in 8:07.26.
She is the four-time Olympic champion in her signature event. The American's lone previous defeat in an 800 free final since 2010 came in a small domestic meet in February 2024 against Summer McIntosh of Canada.“Katie's such a dominant force,” a breathless Pallister said.Kate Douglass lowered her own world record in the 50 free for the second time Saturday, winning the final in 23.19.In the morning preliminaries, the 24-year-old American swam 23.49 to take the mark away from teammate Gretchen Walsh, who finished second in the evening final in 23.74.Douglass returned 25 minutes later to finish second in the 200 breaststroke. She rallied from third down the stretch but couldn’t catch Alexanne Lepage of Canada, who led the entire race and touched in a lifetime best of 2:21.73.
Douglass finished in 2:22.57.“I feel like I’m just a little bit shocked,” Lepage said.Walsh had owned the 50 free record of 23.55 since setting it in June at an international meet in Rome.It’s the third time Douglass has lowered the world mark in the sprint race. She first did it on June 19 at the TYR Pro Swim Series meet in Indianapolis, posting a time of 23.59. Nine days later, Walsh lowered it again.Fourteen minutes after climbing out of the pool, Douglass appeared on the medals podium in her cap and goggles to accept her gold.
The other medalists were dressed in their usual team sweats. Eleven minutes after that, Douglass dived in for the 200 breast final.Douglass capped a busy night by anchoring the U.S. women to a dominant victory in the 4 x 100 medley relay.
Their time of 3:50.43 was a championship record. Australia was second in 3:55.09.Douglass is a five-time Olympic medalist. She earned silver in the 50 free at the 2024 world championships but didn’t compete in the event at the 2024 Paris Games.Her 50 free was the second individual world record set at the meet that includes swimmers from the U.S., Australia, Canada, Japan and China, among others.The U.S.
men also topped Australia in the 4 x 100 medley relay.
Summary from source