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08/16 00:38 CDT Lani Pallister stuns Katie Ledecky with her first international
800 free loss at Pan Pacs
Lani Pallister stuns Katie Ledecky with her first international 800 free loss
at Pan Pacs
By BETH HARRIS
AP Sports Writer
IRVINE, Calif. (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.
"I was just so locked in and I've been really focused on what I want,"
Pallister said. "The 800 is my favorite event."
Ledecky took silver in a season-best 8:07.26.
"That was definitely my best swim of the week, so I'm actually pretty happy
with it," she said. "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 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 after the race.
Kate Douglass lowered her own world record in the 50 free for the second time
Saturday, winning the final in 23.19 --- one of three events on the final night.
"I was doubting myself, questioning my ability to do the triple," she said. "My
coaches and my teammates just really had a lot of faith in me and they really
gave me a lot of energy."
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. Will Modglin,
Van Mathias, Luca Urlando and anchor Jack Alexy swam a championship-record time
of 3:29.06.
Sam Short of Australia won the 1,500 free to go with his earlier titles in the
400 and 800 free events. His time of 14:33.97 was the sixth-fastest in history
and broke Grant Hackett's 24-year-old championship record.
"That was actually so much fun," Short said.
Kazushi Imafuku of Japan took silver in 14:42.59 and two-time defending Olympic
champion Bobby Finke earned bronze in 14:44.26 on the same day he lost his
world record to Johannes Liebmann of Germany at the European championships.
The men's 50 free was won by Jamie Jack of Australia in a championship record
of 21.35. American Jack Alexy took silver in 21.42.
Yu Yiting of China defeated a strong field including world record-holder
McIntosh to win the 200 individual medley.
Yu was under world-record pace on the opening butterfly leg before American
Regan Smith took over the lead on the backstroke. Yu moved back in front on the
breaststroke and held off McIntosh in the closing meters. Yu's time of 2:07.45
set a championship record in the outdoor pool in Irvine.
McIntosh, the Canadian star whose lone individual victory of the week was in
the 400 IM, took silver in 2:07.47. American Alex Walsh, the older sister of
Gretchen Walsh, earned bronze in 2:07.66. Smith finished fourth.
McIntosh claimed silver in the 200 freestyle and bronze in the 4 x 200
freestyle relay. She surprisingly failed to qualify for the 400 free
championship final, but finished first in the ?B' final.
"It wasn't a horrible swim, but getting touched out is something that is never
a good thing to feel," she said. "Overall, the meet didn't go the way I wanted
it to, so there'll definitely be a lot of reflection."
Zac Stubblety-Cook of Australia went from fourth to first in the 200 breast,
winning in 2:08.09. American Josh Matheny earned silver. Shin Ohashi, who led
until the final 15 meters, took bronze.
In the men's 200 IM, Tomoyuki Matushita of Japan won in 1:56.02 over American
Carson Foster.
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See AP's full sports coverage here
