{"id":619964,"date":"2025-08-02T08:08:01","date_gmt":"2025-08-02T15:08:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=619964"},"modified":"2025-08-02T08:24:33","modified_gmt":"2025-08-02T15:24:33","slug":"world-championships-overlookable-no-more-lani-pallister-completes-stellar-worlds-with-silver","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/world-championships-overlookable-no-more-lani-pallister-completes-stellar-worlds-with-silver\/","title":{"rendered":"World Championships: Overlookable No More, Lani Pallister Completes Stellar Worlds with Silver"},"content":{"rendered":"

World Championships: Overlookable No More, Lani Pallister Completes Stellar Worlds with Silver<\/strong><\/p>\n

Every race touted as the Race of the Insert-Time-Period-Here needs that little extra to take it over the top.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the Grant Hackett<\/strong> factor in the 2004 men\u2019s 200 freestyle. It\u2019s the continental record holders in the women\u2019s 400 freestyle in Paris.<\/p>\n

And Saturday in Singapore, in the rare race that exceeded its exuberant billing, Lani Pallister<\/strong> delivered on all the hopes.<\/p>\n

\"lani

Lani Pallister, Katie Ledecky and Summer McIntosh on the 800 free podium; Photo Courtesy: Emily Cameron<\/p><\/div>\n

Pallister has been fantastic at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships in Singapore. A swimmer who doesn\u2019t get the shine she deserves given the constellation of Aussie freestyle stars in more fashionable distances, Pallister has shown herself an international contender, punctuated by a silver medal in the 800 freestyle, an Oceania record and pushing Katie Ledecky<\/strong> for all she was worth in one of the most engrossing races of the meet.<\/p>\n

Saturday\u2019s 800 free on the penultimate day of the World Championships was billed as a titanic clash between Ledecky and Summer McIntosh.<\/strong> Ledecky had just set the world record in May, lowering her mark from the Rio Olympics after nearly nine years. McIntosh followed her by buzzing within a second of it to set the third-fastest time in history.<\/p>\n

Even with those lofty expectations, Saturday\u2019s final delivered, if not on the strict Ledecky-McIntosh duopoly. Instead Pallister, the arm-driven distance monster, pushed Ledecky until the very last stroke.<\/p>\n

Ledecky got to the wall first, as she has done unerringly at the last seven World Championships, in 8:05.62, downing her meet record from a decade ago in Kazan and the No. 4 performance of all-time. (Ever perspicacious, Ledecky on the hype: \u201cI think I\u2019ve been a part of a \u2018race of the century\u2019 maybe six times in the last decade.\u201d) But there was Pallister in second in 8:05.98, pushing Ledecky to the last meter with the No. 6 swim in history.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is probably the first major meet that I\u2019ve made it through the week without getting sick or having to pull from any event,\u201d Pallister said. \u201cSo, that\u2019s a huge win. I didn\u2019t think I\u2019d crack 8:08 this week. My goal was just to be under 8:10, so being in 8:05 is insane. \u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just really thrilled. It was a lot of fun and when I was almost at 400 meters, I wondered who was going to make it between Summer and Katie. It was just a really wicked back-end, and I\u2019m stoked about how I put it all together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pallister animated a classic race as much as McIntosh, who faded \u2013 if we can call an 8:07.29 fading \u2013 to third. The sync between the three stars in from the 400-meter mark to 700 meters defies description:<\/p>\n