Douglass breaks 50m freestyle swimming world record, Ledecky loses 800m

US swim superstar Katie Ledecky was upstaged by Lani Pallister, while Kate Douglass made history twice in 50m freestyle.

Australian swimmer Lani Pallister dealt US great Katie Ledecky her first 800 metres freestyle defeat in a major international meet, beating her one-time idol at the 2026 Pan Pacific Championships in Irvine, California, on Saturday.

Pallister led wire-to-wire en route to victory in 8 minutes, 6.1 seconds, and Ledecky’s desperate late charge was not enough as she finished second in 8:07.26.

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It was a stunning result on the final day of Pan Pacs action that saw American Kate Douglass break the 50m freestyle world record twice on the way to gold and earn 200m breaststroke silver and medley relay gold as well.

Ledecky has dominated the 800m since she won Olympic gold in 2012 as a 15-year-old, winning 13 international golds since then. That includes four Olympic gold medals and seven world titles in the event.

Canadian Summer McIntosh beat Ledecky in the 800m free at a minor domestic meeting in Florida in February 2024. But world record-holder Ledecky maintained her hold on the event with a razor-thin victory over Pallister and McIntosh in a World Championships thriller last year in Singapore, where Ledecky said her rule as younger swimmers began closing in was “I don’t lose 800s”.

Left to right, Katie Ledecky of the US, second place, Lani Pallister of Australia, first place, and Erika Fairweather of New Zealand look on from the podium for the women’s 800m freestyle final [Sean M Haffey/Getty via AFP]

Ledecky ‘a dominant force’

Pallister, who claimed her first career win over Ledecky in the 400m free earlier this week before finishing second behind her in the 1,500m, showed that rule can be broken as the 29-year-old American looks to add to her collection of nine Olympic gold medals at the 2028 Los Angeles Games.

The Australian punched the water in delight and got a hug across the lane rope from Ledecky.

“Katie is such a dominant force,” said Pallister, who finished the week with gold in the 200m, 400m and 800m free and the 4x200m free relay.

“Without her, we wouldn’t have women’s distance swimming in the place we’re at at the moment.

“To be part of that story at the moment [it’s] pretty much all because we get to chase Katie.”

Lani Pallister in action in the women’s 800m freestyle final [Sean M Haffey/Getty via AFP]

Douglass dominates

Douglass, meanwhile, firmly established herself as the one to chase in the 50m freestyle, winning the final in a devastating 23.19 seconds.

That sliced three-10ths of a second off the world record of 23.49 seconds she set hours earlier and saw her finish a whopping 55-100ths of a second ahead of US teammate Gretchen Walsh.

Walsh had set a world record of 23.55 on June 28 in Rome, where she broke the world mark Douglass had set on June 19.

Australia’s reigning world champion Meg Harris took bronze in 23.89.

Douglass returned less than half an hour later to claim silver in the 200m breaststroke, won by Canadian Alexanne LePage in 2:21.73.

Douglass capped her night swimming the freestyle anchor leg for the US 4×100 medley relay team, which took gold in 3:50.43, 4.66 seconds ahead of Australia.

Australian Jamie Jack won the men’s 50m free in 21.35 seconds and Zac Stubblety-Cook rallied from fourth at the final turn to win the men’s 200m breaststroke in 2:08.09 and give Australia another gold in the four-day meeting of top swimmers from non-European countries.

More McIntosh disappointment

Chinese Olympian Yu Yiting started the night with an upset of world record-holder Summer McIntosh in the 200m individual medley, leading most of the way and holding off the Canadian’s charge on the final freestyle leg to win in 2:07.45.

McIntosh, the reigning world and Olympic champion, touched in 2:07.47.

It was another disappointment for McIntosh in a meet that included 400m individual medley gold but only silver in the 200m free and a failure to make the championship final in the 400m free.

Summer McIntosh of Team Canada competes in action in the women’s 200m individual medley heats [Maddie Meyer/Getty via AFP]

Japan’s Tomoyuki Matsushita completed a men’s medley double with a 200m victory in 1:56.02.

Sam Short clocked an Australian record of 14:33.97 to add 1,500m freestyle to his 400m and 800m gold.

Short, who pulled off the same treble at the Commonwealth Games, finished 8.62 seconds in front of Japan’s Kazushi Imafuku and said he was inspired by the world record of 14:26.79 set by Germany’s Johannes Liebmann at the European Championships in Paris on Saturday.

American Bobby Finke, the two-time Olympic gold medallist whose world mark was broken by Liebmann, was third in 14:44.26.