Lani Pallister Breaks Own 800 Free Australian Record, #7 Performer All-Time

2022 FINA SHORT COURSE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

During the second night of competition at the 2022 Short Course World Championships, Lani Pallister crushed her own Australian national record to win the women’s 800 freestyle final.

20-year-old Pallister touched the wall first in Melbourne with a time of 8:04.07, taking more than three seconds off the mark she set in August at the Australian Short Course Championships. This time makes Pallister the 7th fastest performer all-time in this event.

Pallister took out the race almost even with the pace she set in August, flipping just .20 slower than her previous 100-meter split. She made up this time quickly by splitting 1:01-low’s at the 200, 400, and 600-meter marks where she had split 1:01-mid’s and high’s previously. Her finishing speed is what made the biggest difference though, she came home in 1:01.10/1:00.40 compared to the 1:02.16/1:00.64 she split in August.

Split Comparison: Pallister at 2022 Australian Championships vs. Pallister at 2022 Short Course World Championships

Splits: Pallister (2022 AC)
Pallister (2022 SCWC)
100m 57.52 57.72
200m 1:58.47 (1:00.95)
1:57.96 (1:00.24)
300m 2:59.70 (1:01.23)
2:59.09 (1:01.12)
400m 4:01.22 (1:01.52)
4:00.23 (1:01.14)
500m 5:02.67 (1:01.45)
5:01.16 (1:00.93)
600m 6:04.57 (1:01.90)
6:02.57 (1:01.41)
700m 7:06.73 (1:02.16)
7:03.67 (1:01.10)
800m 8:07.37 (1:00.64)
8:04.07 (1:00.40)

Notably, Pallister had more competition to race in the Short Course Worlds final, despite missing top seed Li Bingjie and 3rd seed Simona Quadarella who are out for health reasons. At the Australian Championships, Pallister won the 800 free by 26 seconds whereas tonight, New Zealand’s Erika Fairweather held her own and won silver just six seconds after Pallister (8:10.41).

This is Pallister’s second gold medal win of the 2022 Short Course World Championships so far following her 400 freestyle win on day one.

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1 year ago

She’s on fire. She’s looking at three individual titles plus a relay WR. Swimmer of the meet for sure.

About Annika Johnson

Annika Johnson

Annika came into the sport competitively at age eight, following in the footsteps of her twin sister and older brother. The sibling rivalry was further fueled when all three began focusing on distance freestyle, forcing the family to buy two lap counters. Annika is a three-time Futures finalist in the 200 …

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