Australian swimmer Lani Pallister has made history by defeating Katie Ledecky in the 800m freestyle at a major meet, halting Ledecky’s 13 international championship gold medal streak dating back to 2012. At the Pan Pacific Championships, Pallister recorded a time of 8 minutes, 6.10 seconds in Irvine, California, surpassing Ledecky by 1.16 seconds. She took the lead early and maintained it throughout the race.
Ledecky made a late surge, closing the gap by seven-tenths of a second between 700 and 750 meters, reducing Pallister’s lead to just 0.94 seconds. Reflecting on the moment, Pallister commented, “I saw her coming on the 15th 50 and I was like, holy s—,” expressing her surprise at Ledecky’s tenacity.
It was my best swim of the meet.
Ledecky remained optimistic about her performance, acknowledging it as her strongest swim of the competition. “If I was going to get second tonight, I wanted to make it a good one,” she said.
Lani Pallister, 24, had previously collected Ledecky’s autograph in 2014, and leading up to the race, she felt the most nervous she had ever been. Yet, her preparation paid off. At the 2025 World Championships, Pallister finished just 0.36 seconds behind Ledecky in what was the closest 800m freestyle final of Ledecky’s career. During these Pan Pacs, Pallister also finished only 2.53 seconds behind Ledecky in the 1500m freestyle, marking the closest gap in 13 years, and she triumphed over Ledecky in the 400m freestyle earlier in the meet.
Since her Olympic debut in 2012, Ledecky had garnered four Olympic golds in the 800m freestyle, along with seven world titles and two Pan Pacific titles. The Pan Pacific Championships, a competition restricted to non-European swimmers, stands as the largest event of 2026 for swimmers from the U.S. and Australia.
Katie’s such a dominant force, and I think it’s real important we give her a big round of applause.
Pallister expressed on NBC Sports that Ledecky’s influence has significantly elevated women’s distance swimming. “To be part of that story at the moment, pretty much all because we get to chase Katie,” Pallister added.
Ledecky’s only other 800m freestyle defeat in 16 years occurred in February 2024 at a small Florida meet against Canadian Summer McIntosh. Looking ahead to the 2028 Olympics, the 800m freestyle offers Ledecky the opportunity to become the second athlete to win the same individual Olympic event five times, following Cuban wrestler Mijain Lopez. This race might prove to be the most challenging 800m of her Olympic career.
Ledecky stated, “If it’s a year to have a not-so-good meet, this is the year to have it.” She expressed excitement for the future, emphasizing that the meet provided valuable insights for improvement. “I think I got a lot of good data from this meet and the whole year. It’s been a great stretch for me since May 2025.” Pan Pacs highlights air Sunday at 2 p.m. ET on NBC, with Pallister facing Ledecky in her trademark race live on Peacock and NBCSN on Saturday night.
In other results on Saturday, Kate Douglass broke the 50m freestyle world record in both the prelims and finals, additionally anchoring the U.S. women’s 4x100m medley relay to gold and securing silver in the 200m breaststroke. Douglass had a historic day, highlighted further here. In the medley relay, Gretchen Walsh achieved the fastest butterfly split in history with a time of 54.78, surpassing her previous 54.98 from the 2025 Worlds.
China’s Yu Yiting upset Olympic gold medalist and world record holder Summer McIntosh in the 200m individual medley, narrowly defeating the 19-year-old Canadian by two hundredths. Despite McIntosh’s dissatisfaction with some of her performances at the meet, she concluded the week with one win in the 400m individual medley from her four individual events, three of which she had won at the 2025 World Championships. According to McIntosh’s coach since last summer, Bob Bowman, they are still refining their training approach. This meet represented their first taper meet together.
Yu Yiting swam a Championship Record 2:07.45 in the 200m individual medley, preventing Summer McIntosh from claiming gold. The U.S. swimmer Alex Walsh finished third, marking her first Pan Pacs medal.
Australian Sam Short completed a sweep of the 400m, 800m, and 1500m freestyle events, replicating his success from the Commonwealth Games. Short set a Championship Record in the 1500m freestyle with a time of 14:33.97. Before this summer, the last person to accomplish this feat at a major meet was China’s Sun Yang in 2013. NBC Sports’ Ardynne Fleitz contributed reporting from Irvine.