IRVINE (California): Australian Lani Pallister attacked early and held on to win the women’s 400m freestyle ahead of US great Katie Ledecky at the Pan Pacific Championships in Irvine, California on Friday.
Pallister led all the way to win in 3min 58.42sec, setting a blistering early pace and hanging on as nine-time Olympic gold medallist Ledecky charged late to take silver in 4:00.15.
“It felt good until it didn’t,” said Pallister, who arrived in Irvine off a four-gold performance in the Commonwealth Games and beat Canadian star Summer McIntosh in the 200m free on Wednesday, before finishing runner-up to Ledecky in the 1500m free on the same night.
Pallister, who helped Australia bag 4x200m free relay gold on Thursday, admitted she was hurting at the end.
New Zealand’s Erika Fairweather took bronze in 4:02.35 as world record-holder McIntosh had to take what satisfaction she could from winning the consolation final with a time of 4:00.58.
McIntosh, winner of three individual gold medals at the Paris Olympics, said it was a case of “lessons learned” after she miscalculated her preliminary swim and ended up with the ninth-fastest time of the morning.
The competition that brings together top swimmers from non-European countries has been a mixed bag for McIntosh.
She bounced back from her 200m free defeat to win the 400m individual medley but was disappointed to finish more than four seconds slower than her own world mark.
Australia’s Sam Short continued his stellar form with a dominant victory in the men’s 400m free, clocking 3:40.52 to break legendary Australian Ian Thorpe’s championship record of 3:41.83 set in 1999.
“I really put it on the line,” said Short, who came off a 400m, 800m and 1500m free treble at the Commonwealth Games and won the 800m free on Wednesday.
“Beat Thorpey’s meet record, I think that’s older than me,” added Short, who is indeed just 22 and said he counted Thorpe among the heroes of his youth.
China’s junior world record-holder Zhang Zhanshuo was second in 3:42.42 and American Aaron Shackell bagged bronze in 3:43.44.
Matthew Temple kept the Australian gold flowing, touching in 50.39sec to lead compatriot Ben Armbruster in a 100m butterfly one-two, and Aussie Sam Williamson won a 50m breaststroke thriller in 26.36sec with South African Michael Houlie and American Van Mathias tied for second in 26.42.
World record-holder Gretchen Walsh of the US powered to a dominant victory in the women’s 100m fly in 55.15sec.
Regan Smith led Claire Curzan in a US one-two in the women’s 200m backstroke and the US capped the night with a pair of rousing wins in the 4x100m freestyle relays.
The US women set an American record of 3:29.32 for a 4x100m freestyle relay triumph over Australia. They were fueled by Kate Douglass’s stunning leadoff leg of 51.69 — the second-fastest 100m free in history.
The US men — Chris Guiliano, Patrick Sammon, Destin Lasco and Jack Alexy — took gold in 3:09.01.
Australia took second in 3:09.57, pushing the Americans until the end in a preview of the fireworks the rivals can be expected to produce at the Los Angeles Olympics in two years’ time.
The Americans and Australians didn’t have things all their own way.
Japanese 17-year-old Yumeki Kojima pulled off a surprise in the men’s 200m back, rallying from fourth at the halfway mark to win in 1:55.38.
Olympian Tang Qianting won the women’s 50m breaststroke in 29.67 to give China their first gold of the week.
Published in Dawn, August 16th, 2026