2025 WORLD AQUATICS SWIMMING WORLD CUP – Westmont
- October 17-19, 2025
- Westmont, Illinois
- SCM (25 meters)
- Meet Central
- Psych Sheets
- Live Results
- Live Recaps:
Women’s 400 Freestyle – Fast Heats
- World Record: 3:50.25 – Summer McIntosh, CAN (2024)
- World Junior Record: 3:50.25 – Summer McIntosh, CAN (2024)
World Cup Record: 3:52.80 – Summer McIntosh, CAN (2022)U.S. Open Record: 3:54.04 – Katie Ledecky, USA (2022)- Fastest Morning Swim: 4:03.44 — Minna Abraham (CLB)
- Carmel Champion: Lani Pallister (AUS) — 3:54.38
Top 8 Finishers:
- Lani Pallister (AUS) – 3:52.42 **World Cup and US Open Record
- Erika Fairweather (NZL) – 3:57.99
- Bella Sims (CLB) – 3:58.29
- Anna Peplowski (CLB) – 4:00.14
- Mary-Sophie Harvey (CAN) – 4:00.32
- Caitlin Deans (NZL) – 4:00.64
- Freya Colbert (GBR) — 4:00.99
- Ella Jansen (CLB) – 4:03.22
Australia’s Lani Pallister swam to two new records in her win in the women’s 400 free at the second stop of the World Cup Series. Pallister broke the World Cup Series record as well as the US Open record touching in a 3:52.42.
The previous World Cup Series record stood at a 3:50.80 set by Summer McIntosh back in 2022. McIntosh was originally slated to competed in the World Cup Series but withdrew due to illness. The previous US Open Record was a 3:54.04 set by Katie Ledecky in 2022.
Split Comparison
| Pallister | Ledecky- Old US Open Record |
McIntosh- Old World Cup Record
|
|
| 100 | 55.66 | 56.06 | 56.47 |
| 200 | 58.32 | 58.79 | 58.57 |
| 300 | 59.51 | 59.8 | 59.12 |
| 400 | 58.93 | 59.39 | 58.64 |
| 3:52.42 | 3:54.04 | 3:52.80 |
Pallister was faster than McIntosh on the first 200 of the race, with the largest difference coming on the first 100. The same can be said for Pallister’s swim compared to Ledecky’s as well, although Pallister was faster on all four-100s.
With her swim, Pallister also becomes the #3 performer in the event all-time. She had previously sat at #4 and now passes Ledecky.
Women’s Top 5 Performers SCM 400 Free
- Summer McIntosh (CAN), 3:50.25 (2024)
- Li Bingjie (CHN), 3:51.30 (2022)
- Lani Pallister (AUS), 3:52.42 (2025)
- Katie Ledecky (USA), 3:52.88 (2022)
- Ariarne Titmus (AUS), 3:53.92 (2018)
Where’s Ledecky?
Training at UF
I think it’s great that she’s someone who’s not just: BAM! appeared on the stage as a teenager. But rather someone who’s quietly moved up the ranks, despite setbacks, through hard work (not that the others don’t work hard, but I feel like she’s got more of an underdog vibe to her… and who doesn’t like rooting for someone like that?!)
Summer would of blown the doors off of this
*have
Fourth grade teachers are crying everywhere these days.
That’s because fourth grade teachers didn’t learn about “dialects” in college.
Linguists are unbothered by “would of.”
I’m far from being a grammar nazi but isn’t one of the points of a unified grammar understanding each other through dialectic barriers in written text?
Is there anyone that doesn’t understand that “would of” and “would have” mean the same thing?
The person who immediately ‘corrected’ it sure did.
You almost had me there! Nice trolling 🙂
GRAMMAR IS HARD
I think her 800 free at Worlds was the swim of the meet..she has quietly replaced Titmus since moving with Dean..Baring injury, I predict her to get the 800 WR soon..the Mile maybe.
From the interviews, extremely likeable, someone who has found her coach and secret sauce. Upper limit not known yet.
It’s not the much more important ling course races but terrific that Lani has been stepping up over the past year to fill Arnie’s shoes (flippers?)
How much of a factor do you think Lani’s improvement is in Arnie’s decision to retire?
None
Titmus is not afraid of competition.
Remember she beat Summer in Furious right after Summer broke her 400 WR.
In Tokyo she proved everyone wrong for saying she only beat Ledecky in 2019 because Ledecky was sick.
She beat both Summer and Ledecky in World Championship and Olympics two years in a row.
She decided she has other things she wants to do/achieve other than slogging away in the pool every day.
I respect that. She retires on her own terms and she has nothing else to prove:
She broke both 200-400 World Records
She won individual Olympics 3 gold and 3 silver, there are only seven other female swimmers that individually did better at the Olympics
She… Read more »
Perfect summary
Kudos to Lani for swimming in North America, something Titmus never did. Titmus was one of the most self-protective swimmers ever with her selective swimming, then would go peevish when someone (Bingjie, McIntosh) had the gall to break one of her WRs while she sat at home or did AUS TV interviews. She won a handful of LCM races, skipped out on Budapest Worlds and then skipped Singapore Worlds while pretending (for sponsors) that she was still in the game. Used her Dad and one of the sport’s most unusual coaches for self-promoting PR hype. That’s a better summary.
Titmus is pure class over middle distance. If you want Olympic gold, you’ve got to be picky. Dean’s a GOAT — love what he brings to the sport! 🐐. The Aussies are there in mother America because Aus swim wanted them, funded trip. Titmus has nothing to prove left on high, time for a new chapter of her life. Deserves respect what she’s achieved,
I never looked at it that way.
I guess the bottom line is, the results achieved at Worlds and Olympics is what cements a swimmer’s legacy. These nothing meets don’t really mean very much as they are soon forgotten.
Do you think she would have stayed in the sport if there were more prize money available (or other financial support)?
Looking at the prize money available they have either stayed the same since 2015 (World Champs) or decreased (fewer world cup meets and other meets with prize money).
https://swimswam.com/how-has-the-swimming-world-cup-prize-money-changed-over-time/
https://swimswam.com/fina-world-cup-prize-money-breakdown-100000-male-female-winners/
I think she lost the motivation to train as hard as you need to in order to win. Other things in life…
LOL she’s definitely gonna have kids in the near future, remember, she said she would give up all her medals to become a mother.
It’s not about being afraid of competition. We all know she wasn’t. But when you find your motivation is lacking and your interests and priorities are shifting it absolutely has to factor into the decision making seeing the rise of Lani.
They share the same coach and Lani showed us all in Singapore she had arrived and was a major threat. So it has to help you make a decision you are at peace with when you know that at least Lani, Summer and Katie are obstacles that require 100% will and desire to focus on nothing else but swimming.
If anything I think it was probably a welcome consideration to help her flip the switch to choose… Read more »
I wonder what’ll happen next week. Lani continuing to build into the meet, we know it’s a crazy fast pool… I think the WR is within striking distance but not sure Lani’s best event is the 400. Hopefully she can get the 800
Lani living her Emma McKeon circa 2020 era where she’s stepping out from the shadows of giants and realising her full potential.