{"id":6868,"date":"2026-08-15T15:08:01","date_gmt":"2026-08-15T15:08:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=6868"},"modified":"2026-08-15T15:08:01","modified_gmt":"2026-08-15T15:08:01","slug":"pallister-beats-ledecky-u-s-sweeps-relays-over-australia-at-pan-pacific-championships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=6868","title":{"rendered":"Pallister beats Ledecky, U.S. sweeps relays over Australia at Pan Pacific Championships"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<p><strong>By BETH HARRIS<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>IRVINE (AP) \u2014 Lani Pallister of Australia defeated legendary ex-Stanford star Katie Ledecky to win the 400-meter freestyle at the Pan Pacific Championships on Friday night in a final that lacked some luster without world record holder Summer McIntosh.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=6866\">Savory pastry honors Fra\u2019Mani Salumi\u2019s 20th year<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Pallister was under world-record pace through 150 meters before touching in 3 minutes, 58.42 seconds. Ledecky had over a second to make up on the final lap and took silver in 4:00.15.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI could see Katie catching me on the last 150 and that\u2019s a very nerve-wracking feeling,\u201d Pallister said.<\/p>\n<p>Erika Fairweather of New Zealand was third.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was OK, not super happy with it,\u201d Ledecky said. \u201cI never like being over 4 minutes in an international final, but I put together the best race I could. I thought I had a good back half, just wasn\u2019t out quick enough.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The United States swept the 4 x 100 freestyle relays, beating Australia in both the men\u2019s and women\u2019s races. The women hadn\u2019t defeated the Aussies in the event since 2017.<\/p>\n<p>The team of Chris Guiliano, Patrick Sammon, Destin Lasco and Jack Alexy held off the hard-charging Aussies with a championship-record time of 3:09.01. They finished eight-tenths off the world record of 3:08.24 set by the Americans at the 2008 Beijing Olympics in one of the most thrilling relay races in history.<\/p>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Jason Lezak swam the fastest relay split in history to overtake France and keep Michael Phelps\u2019 historic quest for eight gold medals alive.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat record has been in a lot of people\u2019s eyes for a long time,\u201d anchor Alexy said. \u201cI\u2019m really confident we\u2019ll get that record.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In the women\u2019s relay, Kate Douglass, Gretchen Walsh and former Stanford stars Torri Huske and Simone Manuel won in a championship and American record time of 3:29.32. Douglass\u2019 100 leadoff split of 51.69 was the second-fastest in history.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy goal was to break the world record and it hurts to be so close to it and not get it,\u201d Douglass said.<\/p>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Pallister has firmly established herself as one of Ledecky\u2019s top rivals two years out from the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. The 24-year-old Aussie who cites the 29-year-old American as her inspiration has been piling up international medals in freestyle events ranging from 200 to 1,500 meters.<\/p>\n<p>Pallister won the 200 free over McIntosh and Fairweather on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s been an incredible week,\u201d Pallister said. \u201cChasing my goals, chasing dreams and having fun doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ledecky didn\u2019t compete in the 200 free this week. She topped Pallister in the 1,500 free on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=6864\">Toasting a century of craftsmanship<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve never taken my competition for granted, even when I was winning by big margins,\u201d Ledecky said. \u201cI just have a lot of great competition from all over the world right now.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>McIntosh surprisingly failed to advance to the evening final. The 19-year-old Canadian\u2019s time of 4:08.56 was ninth-fastest in the preliminaries and more than 14 seconds slower than her world-record time.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI take full responsibility for my misjudgment in this morning\u2019s heats,\u201d McIntosh posted on her Instagram account.<\/p>\n<p>McIntosh led all the way in winning the \u2018B\u2019 final in 4:00.58, which would have earned her the bronze in the final.<\/p>\n<p>She\u2019s had mixed results in Irvine. She was second in the 200 freestyle and then won the 400 individual medley with a time that was about 3 1\/2 seconds slower than her fastest time.<\/p>\n<p>Sam Short gave Australia a sweep in the 400 free, winning the men\u2019s final in 3:40.52, breaking the 27-year-old championship record of 3:41.03 set by his countryman Ian Thorpe.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI had so much left at the end,\u201d Short said.<\/p>\n<p>Zhang Zhanshuo of China took silver.<\/p>\n<p>The Aussies went 1-2 in the men\u2019s 100 butterfly. Matthew Temple won gold and teammate Ben Armbruster earned silver. Walsh won the women\u2019s race in 55.15 seconds. Taylor Ruck of Canada took silver in 56.71.<\/p>\n<p>Regan Smith led a 1-2 U.S. finish in the 200 backstroke. She was under world-record pace after 100 meters and touched in 2:05.57. Teammate Claire Curzan earned silver in 2:06.44.<\/p>\n<p>Japan\u2019s Yumeki Kojima won the men\u2019s 200 backstroke in 1:55.38.<\/p>\n<p>China\u2019s Tang Qianting won the women\u2019s 50 breaststroke in 29.67. U.S. teammates McKenzie Siroky and Skyler Smith took silver and bronze.<\/p>\n<p>Australia\u2019s Sam Williamson won the men\u2019s 50 breast in a championship-record time of 26.36. American Van Mathias and Michael Houlie of South Africa tied for silver in 26.42.<\/p>\n<p>Mathias earned his fourth medal this week. He won the 100 breast and was part of the world record-setting U.S. win in the mixed 4 x 100 medley relay to go with a silver in the 50 fly.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEveryone\u2019s been calling it Van Pacs,\u201d Williamson said, \u201cbut after tonight we might have to call it Sam Pacs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=6862\">What\u2019s new this year for the Santa Clara County Fair<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the women\u2019s relay, former Stanford stars Torri Huske and Simone Manuel helped the U.S. win in a championship and American record time of 3:29.32.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6867,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6868","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - 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