{"id":601492,"date":"2024-12-11T11:35:18","date_gmt":"2024-12-11T18:35:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=601492"},"modified":"2024-12-11T13:02:15","modified_gmt":"2024-12-11T20:02:15","slug":"budapest-2024-day-2-finals-lani-pallister-defends-800-free-title-in-championship-record","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/budapest-2024-day-2-finals-lani-pallister-defends-800-free-title-in-championship-record\/","title":{"rendered":"Budapest 2024, Day 2 Finals: Lani Pallister Defends 800 Free Title In Championship Record"},"content":{"rendered":"

Budapest 2024, Day 2 Finals: Lani Pallister Defends 800 Free Title In Championship Record<\/h4>\n

Lani Pallister<\/strong> dominated throughout to defend her 800 world short-course title as she set a championship record of 8:01.95 in the fastest heat in Budapest.<\/p>\n

The Olympic 4×2 relay gold medallist went 0.95 inside Li Bingjie’s<\/strong> CR 0f 8:02.90 that had stood since the 2021 edition in Abu Dhabi and it was also an Australian standard.<\/p>\n

Pallister became only the second woman to successfully defend the title and the first since Chen Hua<\/strong> of China won three straight golds in the event in 1999, 2000 and 2002.<\/p>\n

The 22-year-old is coached by her mother Janelle Pallister<\/strong>, a treble Commonwealth medallist in 1990 and 1988 Olympian. “I have a lot to thank my mum for,” she said. “I am really happy to end 2024 the way it\u2019s going. After the 400 yesterday (in which she won silver), I thought I might crack. I am struggling a bit with confidence. I wanted to see how close I could go to 8 minutes. I’m more than happy.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Isabel Gose,\u00a0<\/strong>winner of Olympic and world medals this year, added short-course silver in a German record of 8:05.42 with the USA’s Katie Grimes<\/strong> third in 8:05.90.<\/p>\n

It was a first global short-course medal for Gose who has collected extensive silverware on the world and European stages in the past couple\u00a0 of years.<\/p>\n

She became the first German woman to visit the podium in the 800 since Kerstin Kielglass<\/strong> won silver in 1997.<\/p>\n

\u201cI still have to practice to trust myself, that I race can race with the front of the race, but it went much better today and I am happy with this result.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

For Grimes, it followed her 400IM silver at Paris 2024.\u00a0\u201cOverall, I\u2019m satisfied with my performance,” said the USA swimmer. “I didn\u2019t expect this time, I always want to swim better, still, I\u2019m glad that we have such a good team and I can be part of it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The top six finishers all came from the fastest heat with the medal-winning trio followed by Olympic bronze medallist Paige Madden<\/strong> (8:07.22), Italian Simona Quadarella<\/strong> (8:09.39) and Anastasiya Kirpichnikova<\/strong> of France (8:15.16).<\/p>\n

European long-course champion Ajna Kesely<\/strong> of Hungary headed the three slowest heats in the Budapest prelims and her time of 8:18.04 saw her finish seventh overall with Singapore Gan Ching Hwee<\/strong> eighth in the standings in 8:18.85.<\/p>\n