Lani Pallister edges Summer McIntosh to 200m gold, takes 1,500m silver at Pan Pacs
Lani Pallister edged Summer McIntosh to win the women’s 200m freestyle and later took silver in the 1,500m at the Pan Pacific Championships in Irvine, California on Wednesday (Thursday AEST).
Pallister collected both medals on the meet’s opening night in the United States, setting a personal best in the 1,500m while finishing behind American Katie Ledecky. The 26-year-old’s success followed her four Commonwealth Games gold medals in Glasgow just weeks earlier. Dolphins teammates Sam Short (men’s 800m freestyle), Brittany Castelluzzo (women’s 200m butterfly) and Ben Armbruster (men’s 50m butterfly) also won races on the opening night.
In the 200m freestyle final Pallister clocked 1:53.67 to McIntosh’s 1:53.86, the Australian time 0.02s outside her personal best for the event. Pallister’s victory over the Canadian came in a race contested shortly after her Glasgow achievements.
About two hours later Pallister returned for the gruelling 1,500m and recorded 15:38.62, a new best for the distance. She shadowed Ledecky for the initial 500 metres before the American produced a mid-race surge and touched first in 15:36.09; Pallister’s 15:38.62 improved on her previous best of 15:39.14 from June last year. Ledecky, described in the report as a peerless American great who has not lost the event in 16 years, is the winner of nine Olympic and 23 world championship gold medals.
In the men’s 800m freestyle Sam Short won in 7:37.02, finishing 0.71s short of his personal best while edging American Bobby Finke, who was some five-and-a-half seconds behind in second. Ben Armbruster supplied Australia’s first pool gold of the meet by winning the men’s 50m butterfly in 22.75, a time 0.02s outside the Australian record held jointly by Kyle Chalmers and Matt Targett. Brittany Castelluzzo claimed the women’s 200m butterfly in 2:06.24 ahead of Dolphins teammate Liz Dekkers, who touched in 2:06.56.
Australia’s Dolphins won four of the 11 gold medals on offer on opening night of the Pan Pacific Championships in Irvine, California. Pallister’s double-medal night included a 200m victory and a personal-best time in the 1,500m.