World Championships, Day Four Women’s Finals: Lani Pallister Makes It Four From Four With 1500 Gold; Sets Oceania Record

Lani Pallister: Photo Courtesy: Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

A Special Thanks to Deep Blue Media for providing the images from this meet

World Championships, Day Four Women’s Finals: Lani Pallister Makes It Four From Four With 1500 Gold; Sets Oceania Record

Lani Pallister made it four wins in as many races with an utterly dominant 1500 free victory and lowered the Oceania record to 15:21.43 in the process at the World Championships in Melbourne.

Pallister added gold in the longest race in the pool to her titles in the 400 and 800 as well as the women’s 4×200 relay, won in world record time.

Miyu Namba set an Asian record of 15:46.76 in second with Kensey McMahon third-fastest of the day after topping the slowest heats race in the morning.

After splitting 12.83/14.66 to reach 50 in 27.49, Pallister’s splits thereafter were metronomic, ranging from 15.08 to 15.64.

The medals were presented by Dawn Fraser, the swimming legend who won the 100 free at three straight Olympics in 1956, 1960 and 1964.

She is also Pallister’s godmother and the 20-year-old invited Fraser to stand with her on the podium as ‘Advance Australia Fair’ was played.

It was all in stark contrast to a year ago when following heart surgery and an eating disorder as well as an evaporation of confidence, Pallister came close to giving up.

She said:

“It’s been an incredible experience and I look forward to having a break over Christmas.

“After the year I had last year coming from such a low, to now having the icing on the cake. I can’t wait to continue to build on my career.

“All younger athletes look forward to the opportunity to swim faster.

“Victory in the 400m was imperative to everything that has happened over the last few days.

“Coming into this, I didn’t think that four gold medals was possible, but I don’t really focus on the medals. It’s been amazing in front of this crowd.

“Coming from what I went through in 2021, and the struggles and challenges that I faced, it means a lot for me to have this success.”

Pallister is coached by Michael Bohl at Griffth University on Gold Coast and he praised her application throughout the meet, saying:

“Well you never know, she swam quite well at the trials 14 weeks ago – all PBs at trials.

“Yes, there are a few people missing including Katie Ledecky, but you can only race against those who show up. Lani stepped up four times.

“She put in a lot of hard work.

“You prepare to race the best and her training over the past 14 weeks has been really good.

“She has done a terrific job of getting herself moving, and she has a great training group.”

Here is a look at the World Championships 1500 splits:

w 1500 top three

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