Australian swimmer Lani Pallister made history by defeating American Katie Ledecky in the 800m freestyle at the Pan Pacific Championships, marking the first time Ledecky lost in this event during a major meet. Pallister finished the race in 8 minutes, 6.10 seconds, surpassing Ledecky by 1.16 seconds in Irvine, California.

Pallister led the race from start to finish, maintaining her advantage despite a late surge from Ledecky. Between the 700 and 750-meter marks, Ledecky gained on Pallister, reducing the gap to 0.94 seconds. Pallister commented on Ledecky’s challenge, saying, “I saw her coming…and I was like, holy s—-.”

Ledecky noted that it was her best performance at the event, expressing satisfaction with her effort. “If I was going to get second tonight, I wanted to make it a good one,” she remarked.

Pallister, 24, who had admired Ledecky since securing her autograph in 2014, shared that she felt the most nervous before this race. At the 2025 World Championships, she had finished just 0.36 seconds behind Ledecky in the 800m freestyle, one of the closest matches in Ledecky’s career. Pallister also performed well in other events, finishing 2.53 seconds behind Ledecky in the 1500m freestyle earlier in the Pan Pacs and defeating her in the 400m freestyle.

Ledecky’s streak in the 800m freestyle includes an Olympic victory in 2012 at age 15, followed by three more Olympic golds, seven world titles, and two Pan Pacific titles. The Pan Pacs, a significant competition for U.S. and Australian swimmers, does not include European athletes.

Pallister praised Ledecky on NBC Sports, saying, “Katie’s such a dominant force…Without her, we wouldn’t have women’s distance swimming in the place where it is at the moment.”

Ledecky’s previous unexpected loss in the 800m freestyle came against Canadian Summer McIntosh at a small meet in Florida in February 2024. With her eyes on the 2028 Olympics, Ledecky stands poised to potentially become the second athlete to win the same individual Olympic event five times, alongside Cuban wrestler Mijain Lopez. Reflecting on her performance, Ledecky stated, “If it’s a year to have a not-so-good meet, this is the year…I think I got a lot of good data from this meet and the whole year.”

The Pan Pacific Championships highlights will be broadcast on NBC. Saturday’s events featured Australian Samuel Short completing his sweep of the 400m, 800m, and 1500m freestyle events. Short’s achievements echoed those of China’s Sun Yang in 2013.

In other races, Kate Douglass set world records in the 50m freestyle and contributed to the U.S. women’s 4x100m medley relay victory, taking silver in the 200m breaststroke. Gretchen Walsh made history with the fastest butterfly relay split. China’s Yu Yiting upset Summer McIntosh in the 200m individual medley, setting a championship record. McIntosh’s coach, Bob Bowman, cited this meet as a learning experience.