Commonwealth Games, Day One Finals, Women’s 400 Freestyle: Lani Pallister Kick Starts Australian Campaign With A Golden Glow In Glasgow
Australian swimming’s next middle distance star Lani Pallister has kick-started Australia’s Commonwealth Games campaign in the pool in Glasgow with a spectacular all-the-way win the the women’s 400m freestyle at the Tollcross International Aquatic Centre.
The 24-year-old from Queensland was in front from the outset and was never headed, winning her first Commonwealth Games gold in 3:59.56 (splits of 56.93, 1:57.50, 2:59.02).
New Zealand’s Erika Fairweather took silver in 4:02.65, with Pallister’s Brisbane-based training partner Jenna Forrester winning bronze in 4:05.25. Forrester later claimed her own gold, storming home to take the 200m backstroke in a remarkable turnaround – in a two second personal best time of 2:08.17 – racing to the start after collecting her 400m freestyle bronze.
In a complete Trans-Tasman finish, Amelia Weber, who also trains alongside Pallister, finished fourth in her Games debut in 4:08.70, all three Australian girls swimming under super-coach Dean Boxall at St Peters Western in Brisbane.
It was an exceptional swim from Pallister, swimming just outside her best of 3:58.87, who lifted to another gear through the 300m mark to swim away from the field for her first Games gold. Pallister started to make her move through the 300m mark and extended her leave on the seventh lap.
Kiwi Fairweather went with the Australian through the first 200m, but it was all Pallister in the back end of the race.
“It’s awesome to get a win for Australia on the board, and the first [swim] event of the Games, it’s always one to set the tone, so happy I could do that for the whole team,” Pallister said.
It was a fitting reward for Pallister, who announced her arrival into women’s middle distance swimming when she went toe-to-toe with Katie Ledecky and Summer McIntosh at last year’s World Championships in Singapore.
Pallister will now focus on the 200, 800, 1500m and 4x200m freestyle relay, as she prepares to take over the reins as Australia’s next distance queen of the pool from the previous two-timer winner of this event, Ariarne Titmus, who sat in commentary during the race and who was full of praise for the heir apparent to her throne.
Pallister became the 12th Australian to win the event and follows in the footsteps of her mother Janelle Elford, who won bronze behind Hayley Lewis in Auckland in 1990. Also on the list is her godmother, Australian swimming legend Dawn Fraser, who won gold in the 400m at the 1962 Games in Perth.
Pallister collects the first $20,000 on offer from the Hancock Prospecting Bonus Medal Scheme.
Other Australians who have won this event are:
- 1938 Dorothy Green
- 1954 Lorraine Crapp
- 1958 Ilsa Konrads
- 1962 Dawn Fraser
- 1966 Kathy Waingright
- 1970 Karen Moras
- 1974 Jenny Turrall
- 1978 Tracey Wickham
- 1982 Tracey Wickham
- 1990 Hayley Lewis
- 1994 Hayley Lewis
- 1998 Susie O’Neill
- 2018 Ariarne Titmus
- 2022 Ariarne Titmus