Lani Pallister Swims 3:53.73 To Break Ariarne Titmus’ 400 Freestyle Oceanian Record

2024 SHORT COURSE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

Behind the fireworks of Summer McIntosh‘s 400-meter freestyle world record to begin the first finals session at the 2024 Short Course Worlds, Lani Pallister had an impressive swim in her own right, winning the silver medal in an Oceanian record 3:53.73.

Pallister’s swim breaks the Oceanian record Ariarne Titmus swam at the 2018 Short Course World Championships by .19 and moves Pallister up to fourth on the all-time top performers list ahead of Titmus and .93 seconds behind Katie Ledecky. At the time, Titmus’ swim was a world record.

Women’s 400m Freestyle Top 5 Performers All-Time (SCM)

  1. Summer McIntosh, Canada — 3:50.25 (2024)
  2. Li Bingjie, Canada — 3:51.30 (2022)
  3. Katie Ledecky, United States — 3:52.80 (2022)
  4. Lani Pallister, Australia — 3:53.73 (2024)
  5. Ariarne Titmus, Australia — 3:53.92 (2018)

Titmus has become well known for her strong back halves of her races and that came into play during this race as Pallister chased the record. Pallister–the 2022 short course world champion in this race–got out to a strong start in the first half of the race, out-splitting Titmus through the first 250 meters of the race. At the 250-meter mark, she had a .99 second lead on the Oceanian record line.

Titmus’ pace began to creep up on her after that though. Pallister tired on the back half, putting up a 30.29 split at the 350-meter mark that allowed the record line to gain on her. She fought back on the final 50 meters, and while Titmus still out-split her, Pallister did enough to get her hand on the wall ahead of the record line.

Split Comparison: 

Lani Pallister – New Oceanian Record Ariarne Titmus – Former Oceanian Record
50 26.90 26.93
100 29.02 (55.92) 29.15 (56.08)
150 29.24 (1:25.16) 29.38 (1:25.46)
200 29.39 (1:54.55) 29.91 (1:55.37)
250 29.67 (2:24.22) 29.84 (2:25.21)
300 29.91 (2:54.13) 29.73 (2:54.94)
350 30.29 (3:24.42) 29.70 (3:24.64)
400 29.31 (3:53.73) 29.28 (3:53.92)
3:53.73 3:53.92

This was Pallister’s first silver medal of the session. Later, she helped the Australian women’s 4×100 freestyle relay team earn silver to close out the women’s events on the day. She anchored the team of Meg Harris, Milla Jansen, and Alexandria Perkins with a 52.36, stopping the clock at 3:28.25.

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About Sophie Kaufman

Sophie Kaufman

Sophie grew up in Boston, Massachusetts, which means yes, she does root for the Bruins, but try not to hold that against her. At 9, she joined her local club team because her best friend convinced her it would be fun. Shoulder surgery ended her competitive swimming days long ago, …

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