Lani Pallister Takes Distance-Free Triple With 15:58 World Junior Championships Record In 1500m

Janelle Elford, 1988 Olympic swimmer for Australia, and daughter Lani Pallister, World Junior Champion - Photo Courtesy: Delly Carr, Swimming Australia Photo Courtesy: FINA / Budapest 2019

FINA World Junior Swimming Championships (Lani Pallister)

Budapest 2019

Day Five Finals

Australia’s Lani Pallister won her third gold medal of the meet with a new championships record of 15:58.86 in the 1500 after golds in the 400 and 800 to complete the distance hat trick, taking after her mother, 1988 Olympian Janelle Elford. Pallister even passed her mother on the all-time list and put herself in contention to become the first mother-daughter duo to swim at the Olympics in the same events for Australia next year.

There was no Olympic 1500m free back in the day of Elford, the longest race in the pool about to be added in Tokyo next year to bring the men’s and women’s programs in line for the first time in history.

On the all-time Australian list, Pallister moved up from 8th on 16:06.84 to fourth and now finds herself third fastest Australia in all three of her winning events, the 400, 800 and 1500m among those still in the swim, the 30-lap picture like this:

15:52.17 Jess Ashwood
15:56.39 Madeleine Gough
15:56.46 Kiah Melverton
15:58.86 Lani Pallister

At number 9 on the all-time Australia list: 16:10.11 Janelle Elford (1987)

In other action in Budapest this evening, there was a World junior record of 4:11.93 for Greek gold in the 400m medley, Apostolos Papastamos leading Russian 16-year-old Ilia Borodin inside the previous global youth mark for silver in 4:12.95.

Papastamos is the third fastest 17-year-old in history after Japan’s Kosuke Hagino (4:10.26) and Michael Phelps (4:10.73). Borodin is the fastest 16-year-old ever (compared to: Phelps – 4:15; Hagino – 4:16).

Carson Foster, until tonight in Hungary the holder of the junior standard, at 4:13.39, since U.S. nationals earlier this month, led to half way but fell off the pace on breaststroke and faded to sixth place on 4:17.39 by the close of business.

Italy’s Thomas Ceccon produced a minor upset in the 50 fly final to claim his second gold medal of the week, adding on to his gold in the 100 back from Wednesday. He won the final over Russia’s Andrei Minakov and Bulgaria’s Josif Miladinov.

In the girls’ 4x100m freestyle quartet, the United States quartet of Gretchen Walsh (54.13) Torri Huske (54.50) Grace Cooper (55.04) and Amy Tang (53.94) led from go to gold, dominating the race all the way to a 3:37.61 victory by 3.24sec.

Additional reporting: Craig Lord

Women’s 1500 Free

World Junior Record: 15:28.36, Katie Ledecky, USA (2014)
Championships Record: ~~15:59.51, Delfina Pignatiello, ARG (2017)~~

Photo Courtesy: FINA / Budapest 2019

Australia’s Lani Pallister did her best Katie Ledecky impression in the 1500 final as she took a massive lead at the start and just kept building and building on her lead. It was very clear she was going to win her third gold medal of the week after wins in the 800 and 400 free, with the only question being if she could get under the championship record of 15:59.51 that Delfina Pignatiello set in 2017.

Pallister successfully got under the meet record and broke 16:00 for the first time in her career as well, swimming a 15:58.86 to move to 11th in the world for 2019, and is also the third fastest Australian this year. Pallister also moved to fourth on the Australian all-time list as the 17-year-old has really made a name for herself this week in Budapest.

The splits:

28:64, 59.62; 2:02.90; 3:06.64; 4:10.49; 5:14.25; 6:18.09; 7:22.48; 8:27.02; 9:31.64; 10.36.09; 11:40.79’ 12:45;87; 13:50.91; 14:55.95; 15:58.86

Pallister is the daughter of 1988 Olympic finalist Janelle Elford, who was a distance freestyler as well, and now her daughter has passed her on the all-time list in her pet events. If Pallister is to make the Olympic team next year, and that is looking like a real possibility, she and her mum would be the first mother-daughter duo to swim in the Olympics for Australia.

Elford has plaudits from fellow coaches for the fine job she’s doing with her daughter. Looking back down the years, Elford in turn credits her own coaches for her swimming achievements: Dick Caine at the Carss Parkwas followed by Olympic and Hall of Fame coach Bill Sweetenham guiding Elford on the deck. And Sweetenham is still making podium placers: the Smart Track squad he masterminded in Britain produced Jazz Carlin, while the Australian coach has mentored Argentina’s Pignatiello, among others,these past few years.

Pallister was hardly challenged in the 1500 final as Italy’s Giulia Salin (16:14.00) distanced herself away from the field for the silver medal, adding to her bronze from the 800. She was slightly slower than her 16:13.5 she swam at the European Juniors earlier this summer where she won the 800 and 1500 free. The bronze went to Chase Travis (16:18.04) of the United States, who moved up to 32nd in the world and eighth in the United States.

Turkey’s Beril Bocekler (16:22.27) finished fourth as she was also quicker at European Juniors with a 16:21, remaining at 42nd in the world rankings. Hungary’s Viktoria Mihalyvari-Farkas (16:31.42) was also slower than she was at European Juniors and finished fifth for the Hungarian crowd.

USA’s Paige McKenna (16:40.74), Japan’s Miyu Namba (16:43.45) and Slovenia’s Dasa Tusek (16:44.76) also finished in the top eight.

1	PALLISTER	Lani	AUS	15:58.86	CR
2	SALIN	Giulia	ITA	16:14.00
3	TRAVIS	Chase	USA	16:18.04
4	BOCEKLER	Beril	TUR	16:22.27
5	MIHALYVARI-FARKAS	Viktoria	HUN	16:31.42
6	MC KENNA	Paige	USA	16:40.74
7	NAMBA	Miyu	JPN	16:43.45
8	TUSEK	Dasa	SLO	16:44.76

Men’s 50 Fly

World Junior Record: 23.22, Michael Andrew, USA (2017)
Championships Record: 23.22, Michael Andrew, USA (2017)

In a race that could have gone any number of ways, Italy’s Thomas Ceccon crashed the party in the 50 fly final with a gold from lane 2 at 23.37 to claim his third individual medal and second gold medal of the meet. Ceccon won by two hundredths of a second over Russia’s Andrei Minakov (23.39), who came into the race as a favorite after winning gold in the 100 fly earlier in the week. Minakov was expecting to challenge the world junior record that Michael Andrew set in 2017 but that record has survived to live another day.

Ceccon moved up to 20th in the world rankings as he added to his gold medal in the 100 back earlier in the meet. Although the 50 fly is not an Olympic event, Ceccon is a name to watch for the future as the Italians have always had strong sprinters and Ceccon could be a star on the international stage. Minakov is already becoming a star, having won the silver medal at the World Championships behind Caeleb Dressel last month. He moved to 22nd in the world rankings with his swim.

The top five swimmers in the final were separated by 0.22 seconds as that group crashed to the wall with Bulgaria’s Josif Miladinov (23.48) claiming the bronze medal ahead of Russia’s Aleksandr Shchegolev (23.50), who finished fourth after coming in as the top seed. Miladinov moved to 32nd in the world as he won his first medal of the Championships, having a little bit of revenge after leading the 100 fly final at the 50 and fading to fourth place. He shut out Shchegolev for the bronze medal.

Germany’s Luca Armbruster (23.59) was among the top finishers as he was fifth. Belarus’ Arseni Barzhakou (23.88), Brazil’s Bernardo Bondra (23.91) and USA’s Blake Manoff (24.01) also swam in the final.

1	CECCON	Thomas	ITA	23.37
2	MINAKOV	Andrei	RUS	23.39
3	MILADINOV	Josif	BUL	23.48
4	SHCHEGOLEV	Aleksandr	RUS	23.50
5	ARMBRUSTER	Luca	GER	23.59
6	BARZHAKOU	Arseni	BLR	23.88
7	BONDRA	Bernardo	BRA	23.91
8	MANOFF	Blake	USA	24.01

Women’s 50 Back

World Junior Record: 27.49, Minna Atherton, AUS (2016)
Championships Record: 27.81, Gabrielle Fa’Aumasili, NZL (2015)

The women’s 50 back was a race that was almost a spitting image of the men’s 50 fly final earlier in the session with four swimmers hardly separated by anything as Australia’s Bronte Job (27.87) won the tight final with her first medal of the week. Job was able to take down Canada’s Jade Hannah, who was the gold medal winner in the 100 and 200 back and was going for the hat trick. But Hannah settled for the silver at 27.91 in a tie with Russia’s Daria Vaskina.

Job was just shy of the championships record that New Zealand’s Gabrielle Fa’Aumasili set in 2015 at 27.81 as Job was just 0.06 off that. Job also missed the record in the semi finals at 27.83 last night, which put her 15th in the world this year.

Vaskina actually came into the meet as a big favorite in this event, having won the bronze medal in the 50 back at the World Championships with a 27.51 last month, having just missed the world junior record of 27.49 from Minna Atherton in 2016. Neither Atherton’s nor Fa’Aumasili’s records were broken this week.

Fa’amausili clocked 27.81 for the championship record back in 2015. Since then, no New Zealand swimmer, including Fa’amausili has gone faster. That stat and others sparked a plea from the journalist hosting the NZLSwim page to coach Lars Humer, mentor to Erika Fairweather, the Kiwi prospect who finished fourth in the 400m freestyle final on 4:08 this week, to “look after her” and avoid a pattern of world-class juniors fading away and no seniors managing to go faster.

Australia’s Mollie O’Callaghan was shut out of the medals in fourth place at 27.94.

Italy’s Costanza Cocconcelli (28.44), Germany’s Lena Riedemann (28.60), Portugal’s Rafaela Azevedo (28.62) and USA’s Annabel Crush (28.72) also swam in the final.

1	JOB	Bronte	AUS	27.87
2	HANNAH	Jade	CAN	27.91
2	VASKINA	Daria	RUS	27.91
4	O’CALLAGHAN	Mollie	AUS	27.94
5	COCCONCELLI	Costanza	ITA	28.44
6	RIEDEMANN	Lena	GER	28.60
7	AZEVEDO	Rafaela	POR	28.62
8	CRUSH	Annabel	USA	28.72

Men’s 400 IM

World Junior Record: ~~4:13.39, Carson Foster, USA (2019)~~
Championships Record: ~~4:14.65, Hugo Gonzalez, ESP (2017)~~

The men’s 400 IM final was expected to be a race between Carson Foster and the clock as he was aiming to double up in IM gold medals this week in Budapest and take another stab at his own world junior record that he set earlier this summer at 4:13.39 at US Nationals in California. Foster already won the 200 IM gold medal this week and split a fantastic 1:46.1 on the end of the United States’ 4×200 free relay last night to break the world junior record, so he looked primed to win the gold medal.

But Foster had trouble getting going in the 400 IM final, leading at the 200 mark under his own record pace, but the rest of the field was in tow. Greece’s Apostolos Papastamos took control of the race in the breaststroke leg and never looked back. Papastamos put the pedal to the metal on the breaststroke leg, splitting a 1:10.58 to Foster’s 1:14.28, who fell way back on the second half, possibly feeling the effects of the pressure as the world junior record holder or just fatigue from a heavy program.

Russia’s Ilia Borodin also split a 1:10 on breaststroke to pass Foster on the third 100 as the two Europeans were a second under the world junior record pace at the 300 turn.

And the Greek did not stop there, splitting an even quicker 59.81 on the freestyle leg to smash the world junior record with a 4:11.93 to wipe away Foster’s 4:13.39 off the books, as well as Hugo Gonzalez’s meet record of 4:14.65 from 2017. Russia’s Borodin was also under the old record with a 4:12.95, but only Papastamos will get to claim the title as record holder.

Foster faded badly on the freestyle leg, falling all the way to sixth place at 4:17.39, getting passed by France’s Leon Marchand (4:16.37), who won the bronze medal from lane 1 thanks to a 58.98 freestyle leg. In fact, the top three finishers were the same three who were on the podium in this event at the European Juniors earlier this summer.

Foster was gracious in defeat, helping raise his Greek rival’s fist in the air as a “passing of the torch” gesture in losing his record.

USA’s Jason Louser, based out of New York, placed fourth with a 4:16.66 as the Cal freshman-to-be was just shy of getting a spot on the podium in the bronze medal scrum. He was still able to swim a new best time, lowering his 4:18.59 from the 2018 Juniors by nearly two full seconds.

Japan’s Tomoru Honda (4:16.98), who was actually leading at the 100, placed fifth at 4:16.98, while Hungary’s Dominik Torok (4:21.98) and Australia’s Se-Bom Lee (4:23.20) placed seventh and eighth.

1	PAPASTAMOS	Apostolos	GRE	4:11.93	WJ, CR
2	BORODIN	Ilia	RUS	4:12.95
3	MARCHAND	Leon	FRA	4:16.37
4	LOUSER	Jason	USA	4:16.66
5	HONDA	Tomoru	JPN	4:16.98
6	FOSTER	Carson	USA	4:17.39
7	TOROK	Dominik	HUN	4:21.98
8	LEE	Se-Bom	AUS	4:23.20

Women’s 4×100 Free Relay

World Junior Record: 3:36.19, Canada (2017)
Championships Record: 3:36.19, Canada (2017)

The United States quartet of Gretchen Walsh (54.13) Torri Huske (54.50) Grace Cooper (55.04) and Amy Tang (53.94) led from go to gold, dominating the race all the way to a 3:37.61 victory by 3.24sec.

The 3:36.19 2017 World junior and championship record of Canadian quartet of Taylor Ruck, Penny Oleksiak, Rebecca Smith and Kayla Sanchez survived by a comfortable margin.

Australia claimed silver in 3:40.85 in Budapest this evening, courtesy of four 55sec swims, from Mollie O’Callaghan, Meg Harris, triple distance free champion Lani Pallister and Rebecca Jacobson.

The battle for bronze was keen between Italy, Russia, Germany and Canada. The Italians (Chiara Tarantino, Maria Masciopinto, Emma Menicucci and Gaia Pesenti) moved into third place over the third leg and refused to yield, taking the last medal in 3:42.04 to 3:42.60 for the Russians.

1	USA	3:37.61	Walsh, 54.13,	Huske, 54.50,	Cooper, 55.04,	Tang, 53.94
2	AUS	3:40.85	O’Callaghan, 55.07,	Harris, 55.51,	Pallister, 55.23,	Jacobson, 55.04
3	ITA	3:42.04	Tarantino, 55.47,	Masciopinto, 55.39,	Menicucci, 55.37,	Pesenti, 55.81
4	RUS	3:42.60	Nevmovenko, 56.02,	Trofimova, 56.17,	Sattarova, 55.47,	Nikonova, 54.94
	GER	3:42.85	Vogelmann, 55.49,	Riedemann, 56.30,	Kleyboldt, 55.77,	Tobehn, 55.29
6	CAN	3:43.32	Douthwright, 55.53,	Henderson, 55.31,	Hannah, 56.45,	O’Croinin, 56.03
7	HUN	3:46.67	Fabian, 56.54,	Szoke, 55.48,	Hathazi, 56.90,	Safranko, 57.75
	FRA	DSQ

Semi Finals Wrap

By Craig Lord.

Men’s 100 Free Semi Finals

World Junior Record: 47.58, Kyle Chalmers, AUS (2016)
Championships Record: 48.33, Ivan Girev, RUS (2017)

Keeping their powder dry, perhaps, none got inside 49sec, Russian Andrei Minakov, on 49.19 at the helm of the second line-up after watching Sweden’s Robin Hanson lead the first semi in 49.65 ahead of Canadian Josh Liendo and American Adam Chaney, on 49.73 and 49.77 respectively.

Two more cracked the 50sec mark, Italy’s Stefano Nicetto on 49.92 and Armenia’s Artur Barseghyan on 49.96. The top 8 for the showdown tomorrow was complete by Ukraine’s Vladyslav Bukhov (50.00) and either Brazil’s Murilo Sartori or American Jake Magahey, both on 50.01 and facing a swim-off.

Sartori successfully won the swim-off at 50.03 with Magahey at 50.36.

All of which made the 2019 battle slower, at semis stage, than the 2017 championships, when 49.85 was required to make the final.

1	MINAKOV	Andrei	RUS	49.19	Q
2	HANSON	Robin	SWE	49.65	Q
3	LIENDO	Joshua	CAN	49.73	Q
4	CHANEY	Adam	USA	49.77	Q
5	NICETTO	Stefano	ITA	49.92	Q
6	BARSEGHYAN	Artur	ARM	49.96	Q
7	BUKHOV	Vladyslav	UKR	50.00	Q
8	SARTORI	Murilo	BRA	50.01	Q
8	MAGAHEY	Jake	USA	50.01
10	KAROLCZAK	Jan	POL	50.03
11	ORLICZ	Filip	POL	50.18
12	TAN	Jonathan Eu Jin	SGP	50.37
13	SANTOS	Lucas	BRA	50.43
14	PICKETT	Michael	NZL	50.49
15	HUANG	Junyi	CHN	50.72
16	RAMADAN	Youssef	EGY	50.80

Women’s 100 Fly Semi Finals

World Junior Record: 56.46, Penny Oleksiak, CAN (2016)
Championships Record: 57.25, Rikako Ikee, JPN (2017)

American Claire Curzan set the pace at 58.51 in the first line-up ahead of Canadian Hanna Henderson and a 59.28.

The top two in the second line-up sailed into lane 4 and 5, Anastasiya Shkurdai, of Belarus, on 57.82, American Torri Huske on 57.86, the battle lines drawn for a thrilling final. Closet to them in the decisive semi was China’s Qian Xinan, who turned 15 this month, on 59.00 as fourth fastest through.

The championship record is held at 57.25 by Rikako Ikee, the Japanese star receiving treatment for leukemia who was sent a show of support by the podium placers in the world-title fight over 100m butterfly last month in Gwangju.

The final was completed by Italian Helena Biasibetti (59.62), Russian Aleksandra Sabitova (59.73) and Canada’s Genevieve Sasseville (59.76).

As in the men’s 100m freestyle, the qualification pace was a touch slower than it was at the 2017 championships, when it took a 59.36 to make the showdown.

1	SHKURDAI	Anastasiya	BLR	57.82	Q
2	HUSKE	Torri	USA	57.86	Q
3	CURZAN	Claire	USA	58.51	Q
4	QIAN	Xinan	CHN	59.00	Q
5	HENDERSON	Hanna	CAN	59.28	Q
6	BIASIBETTI	Helena	ITA	59.62	Q
7	SABITOVA	Aleksandra	RUS	59.73	Q
8	SASSEVILLE	Genevieve	CAN	59.76	Q
9	SATTAROVA	Iana	RUS	59.79
10	RYAN	Michaela	AUS	59.90
11	SHEEHAN	Miriam	PUR	1:00.01
12	OZKAN	Aleyna	TUR	1:00.19
13	PEINIGER	Gabriella	AUS	1:00.24
14	COETZEE	Dune	RSA	1:00.45
15	MENESES	Athena	MEX	1:00.73
16	KAN	Cheuk Tung Natalie	HKG	1:00.90

Women’s 50 Free Semi Finals

World Junior Record: 24.33 Rikako Ikee, JPN (2017)
Championships Record: 24.59, Rikako Ikee, JPN (2017)

American Gretchen Walsh led South African Aimee Canny and Austrian Nina Gangl 25.10 to 25.29 and 25.36 in the fist semi before all were overhauled on the clock in the second line-up by the Walsh’s teammate Maxine Parker, on 24.96 and Australian Meg Harris, on 25.02.

The final was completed by Italian Costanza Cocconcelli (25.49), France’s Lison Nowaczyk (25.50) and Canadian Hanna Henderson, making her second final this evening in 25.52 after a fifth place in the 100 fly qualifier.

1	PARKER	Maxine	USA	24.96	Q
2	HARRIS	Meg	AUS	25.02	Q
3	WALSH	Gretchen	USA	25.10	Q
4	CANNY	Aimee	RSA	25.29	Q
5	GANGL	Nina	AUT	25.36	Q
6	COCCONCELLI	Costanza	ITA	25.49	Q
7	NOWACZYK	Lison	FRA	25.50	Q
8	HENDERSON	Hanna	CAN	25.52	Q
9	NIKONOVA	Ekaterina	RUS	25.53
10	STANISAVLJEVIC	Nina	SRB	25.70
11	SAFRANKO	Sara	HUN	25.73
12	IKEMOTO	Nagisa	JPN	25.78
13	SZOKE	Zita	HUN	25.80
14	DELGADO	Anicka	ECU	25.91
15	WONG	Sze Ting	HKG	26.09
	COSTEA	Bianca-Andreea	ROU	DSQ

Men’s 50 Breast Semi Finals

World Junior Record: 26.97, Nicolo Martinenghi, ITA (2017)
Championships Record: 27.02, Nicolo Martinenghi, ITA (2017)

Vladislav Gerasimenko, of Russia, led the first line up in 27.89 ahead of Greece’s Arkadios Aspougalis, on 27.98.

They weren’t the only ones inside 28: Archie Goodburn, who has Adam Peaty’s pace to look top to back home, split the top 2 in the first semi with a 27.91 at the helm of the second line-up. Closest to him were Canada’s Gabe Mastromatteo, on 28.03, and 200m silvers medallist yesterday, Shoma Sato, of Japan, on 28.20.

American Josh Matheny, the 200m champion in a sizzling race with Sato last night in Budapest, went through in fifth spot on 28.16, the final completed by his USA teammate Kevin Houseman (28.32) and the second Briton through, Kyle Booth (28.34).

1	GERASIMENKO	Vladislav	RUS	27.89	Q
2	GOODBURN	Archie	GBR	27.91	Q
3	ASPOUGALIS	Arkadios	GRE	27.98	Q
4	MASTROMATTEO	Gabe	CAN	28.03	Q
5	MATHENY	Josh	USA	28.16	Q
6	SATO	Shoma	JPN	28.20	Q
7	HOUSEMAN	Kevin	USA	28.32	Q
8	BOOTH	Kyle	GBR	28.34	Q
9	BASTIAN	Izaak	BAH	28.39
10	SIDORCHUK	Aleksey	UZB	28.45
11	BOHM	Sebestyen	HUN	28.47
12	MATATKO	Vojtech	CZE	28.56
13	JANECEK	Vojtech	CZE	28.61
13	YONG	Joshua	AUS	28.61
15	JORDAN	Cameron	AUS	28.77
15	KNOX	Finlay	CAN	28.77

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Kerry Gleeson

4 years ago

Fantastic !!! Congratulations Lani xx

Pat Kennedy

4 years ago

Congratulations

Adriene Peris Moloney

4 years ago

Congratulations Lani, a true champion. In and out of the pool x

Janet Spark

4 years ago

Huge effort.??? Well done.

Wendy Ellis

4 years ago

Congratulations Lani, what a Champion.
I watched and judged you as I’m an official in SLSA Competition and you’re always a great competitors .
????????