IRVINE, Calif. — Australian Lani Pallister beat Katie Ledecky in the 800-meter freestyle final Saturday at the Pan Pacific Championships, handing the nine-time Olympic gold medalist her first loss in the event at an international meet. Pallister touched the wall in 8 minutes, 6.1 seconds.
Pallister’s win came one night after she beat Ledecky in the 400, and three nights after she finished second to the American in the 1,500. The two dueled for the 800 gold at the world championships last summer, too, with Ledecky winning by only 0.36 seconds. The race put the world on notice that Pallister was coming, and she managed to overtake Ledecky on Saturday night to close out Pan Pacs.
Ledecky won 800 free gold at every international meet she contested before Saturday: the 2012, 2016, 2020 (held in 2021) and 2024 Olympics; 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2022, 2023 and 2025 world championships; and the 2014 and 2018 Pan Pacific Championships. Canadian Summer McIntosh beat Ledecky in the event in 2024 but not at an international meet. McIntosh was also at Pan Pacs, but she opted to race the 200 individual medley Saturday instead of the 800.
Ledecky, Pallister and McIntosh were the highest-profile swimmers at Pan Pacs, which comes to a close Saturday night.
Pallister finished the meet with five medals: gold in the 200, 400 and 800 free and the 4×200 free relay, and silver in the 1,500 free. She previously won Olympic gold in the 4×200 free relay in 2024.
Ledecky claimed four medals: gold in the 1,500 free and silver in the 400 and 800 free, as well as the 4×200 free relay. Her world record (8:04.12) still stands.
McIntosh finished the 200 individual medley in 2:07.47, taking silver at the touch to China’s Yu Yiting (2:07.45). She finished the meet with an individual gold in the 400 individual medley and silver in the 200 free. In one of the more shocking turns of the meet, she failed to make the A final Friday in the 400 free, an event in which she owns the world record. She took her preliminary swim too easily in what she called a miscalculation. Her time in the B final would have earned bronze.
“I actually felt better than my 400s,” she said of her 200 IM, an event in which she has the world record (2:05.70). “Felt a bit sprintier tonight. Still off my PB, but it wasn’t a horrible swim. Getting touched out is something that is never a good thing to feel, but I’m still happy with how I raced tonight. I definitely felt better in the water than I had the other days.”
McIntosh, who turns 20 on Tuesday, has four world records, including one in the 200 butterfly earlier this summer at the Canadian Trials, an event she ultimately pulled out of due to illness. With only one individual win, the meet was off her standard.
“I’ll definitely be talking to (coaches) Bob (Bowman) and Erik (Posegay) a lot and seeing, ‘How can I adjust my taper and my training and my focuses throughout the year?’” McIntosh said. “We put in a lot of work, so I know that’ll pay off, but maybe it’s just more the last weeks of preparation, leading up after Trials. And getting sick and all that stuff can get a bit messy. I’ll definitely be thinking about that moving forward.”
