Pallister Beats Ledecky in 400m Freestyle as Australia Stamps Mark on Pan Pacs
Lani Pallister beat Katie Ledecky in the women's 400m freestyle at the Pan Pacific Championships in Irvine, California, touching in 3:58.42 to the American's 4:00.15. The 24-year-old Australian led from the early laps and held off Ledecky — a nine-time Olympic gold medallist — down the final 50 metres (The Straits Times).
The win had looked uncertain after Pallister finished fourth in the morning preliminaries, despite entering the meet with the third-fastest seed time (The Athletic). She set a blistering early pace in the final and refused to buckle when Ledecky closed the gap.
The 400m was the second chapter of a three-race rivalry between the pair at these championships. Ledecky had beaten Pallister to win the 1500m freestyle earlier in the meet, extending her unbeaten streak in that event (Olympics.com). They were scheduled to face each other once more in the 800m freestyle, the final night of competition (Yahoo Sports).
Pallister's meet has been broader than one race. She won the 200m freestyle over Canada's Summer McIntosh, took silver behind Ledecky in the 1500m, and swam on Australia's gold-medal 200m freestyle relay (The Guardian). McIntosh, meanwhile, missed the 400m freestyle final entirely but rebounded to win the women's 400m individual medley — a gruelling race combining all four strokes (The Athletic; YouTube).
Australia's men delivered on the same night. Sam Short won the 400m freestyle in a career-best 3:40.52, breaking Ian Thorpe's Pan Pacs meet record of 3:41.83 that had stood since Sydney in 1999. Short, who had already won the 800m freestyle earlier in the meet, finished ahead of China's Zhang Zhanshuo (3:42.42) and American Aaron Shackell (3:43.44). Sam Williamson took the men's 50m breaststroke in a championship-record 26.36 seconds, with American Van Mathias and South Africa's Michael Houlie tied for silver at 26.42. In the men's 100m butterfly, Australia went one-two: Matthew Temple gold, Ben Armbruster silver (The Guardian).
The United States struck back in the relays, sweeping both 4x100m freestyle finals and beating Australia in each. The American women's victory ended a drought stretching back to 2017 in that event (The Guardian).
For swimming fans, this Pan Pacs has delivered its headline rivalry exactly as hoped. Pallister and Ledecky have traded blows across three distances, and the 800m freestyle — the decider — was still to come on the final night of competition in Irvine.
