Lani Pallister of Australia stunned Katie Ledecky with her first international loss in the 800m 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, the four-time Olympic champion in her signature event, took silver in a season-best 8:07.26.
The American's lone previous defeat in an 800m free final since 2010 came in a small domestic meet in February 2024 against rising star Summer McIntosh of Canada.
"I was just so locked in and I've been really focused on what I want," Pallister said. "The 800 is my favorite event. Katie's such a dominant force."
Responding to defeat, Ledecky said: "That was definitely my best swim of the week, so I'm actually pretty happy with it. If I was going to get second tonight, I wanted to make it a good one. Just wanted to make it hard for Lani."
#ledecky #Event
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, the four-time Olympic champion in her signature event, took silver in a season-best 8:07.26.
The American's lone previous defeat in an 800m free final since 2010 came in a small domestic meet in February 2024 against rising star Summer McIntosh of Canada.
"I was just so locked in and I've been really focused on what I want," Pallister said. "The 800 is my favorite event. Katie's such a dominant force."
Responding to defeat, Ledecky said: "That was definitely my best swim of the week, so I'm actually pretty happy with it. If I was going to get second tonight, I wanted to make it a good one. Just wanted to make it hard for Lani."
#ledecky #Event
24 days ago
