Lani Pallister Set Up for Huge Medal Haul Between Commonwealth Games and Pan Pacs
In her first Olympics, Lani Pallister showed incredible resilience as she overcame a COVID-19 diagnosis to help Australia win gold in the women’s 800 freestyle relay, and she turned around a day later to reach the individual final of the 800 free. But in another year, Pallister would prove herself to be one of the best freestylers in the world by virtue of her breakout performance at the 2025 World Championships.
She started out with a fourth-place finish in the 400 free, an extremely tough-luck result given that Pallister has been in the top-three the entire way before Li Bingjie surged home. In addition, Pallister became the fifth swimmer ever under 3:59 with her mark of 3:58.87 and the first to swim so fast yet fail to win a medal. Her fortunes would shift, though, in the 1500 as she stayed close to Katie Ledecky in the early going before holding on to win bronze. She added a gold as the leadoff swimmer on Australia’s 800 free relay team.
All that built up to a magical final race when Pallister broke up the expected Ledecky-Summer McIntosh duel in the 800 free. Ledecky had lowered the world record three months earlier while McIntosh had dropped a huge amount of time to become history’s second-quickest performer, but Pallister refused to let her more-decorated competition out of reach. In the end, she surged past McIntosh on the final length to finish in 8:05.96, faster than the winning time at every previous World Championships and good for silver behind Ledecky.
Lani Pallister — Photo Courtesy: Delly Carr (Swimming Australia)
Since departing Singapore, Pallister has added two further stunning swims to her resume. In the fall, she shattered the short course world record in the 800 free, her time of 7:54.00 blasting Ledecky’s previous record by a whopping 3.42 seconds.
Then, at the Australian Trials last month, Pallister showed off her capabilities in a shorter distance. Racing the 200 free against Olympic champion Mollie O’Callaghan, Pallister closed down her domestic rival in the final meters to swim a time of 1:53.65. That time, which would have earned Pallister silver at the 2025 Worlds, moved her into a tie with McIntosh for fifth on the all-time list, behind a cadre of 200-meter specialists including Ariarne Titmus, O’Callaghan, Federica Pellegrini and Allison Schmitt.
That’s top-five times in history in four freestyle events, all recorded within the last 14 months (her best 1500 time of 15:39.14 ranks fourth), plus a key role on Australia’s still-dominant 800 free relay gives Pallister a chance at a prolific medal haul in her two upcoming international appearances.
First, Pallister will compete at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland, and without McIntosh in the field, she will be heavily favored for a sweep of the 400, 800 and 1500-meter races. In the 400 free, Pallister could get a push from New Zealand’s Erika Fairweather, the 2024 world champion, but Fairweather has not broken 4:00 in the event in more than two years. As for the distance races, no one entered at the meet has clocked times anywhere close to Pallister’s best marks. The 800 free relay would make it a fourth gold medal, and if Pallister contests the individual 200, O’Callaghan might be the only swimmer who can top her, with Fairweather and Great Britain’s Freya Colbert the other medal challengers.
Immediately after that will come a flight to Irvine, Calif., for the Pan Pacific Championships, where the degree of difficulty increases. Pallister will try to score her first-ever win over Ledecky in any of the three longest freestyle races while McIntosh looms in the 400 (and possibly the 800, depending on her schedule). Pallister’s best gold-medal chance looks to be the 800, but she would need to replicate or exceed last year’s magic to edge Ledecky in a race the veteran American has won at every international competition since 2012. Her relay appearance will also come with high stakes as the Americans enter with the world’s second-quickest quartet.
Pallister enters this grueling stretch of racing owning the second or third-best time in the world for 2026 in all four of her main events. If she can keep up her form and match her times from 2025 at both upcoming international meets, she has a chance to become one of the most successful swimmers of the summer.
