Lani Pallister wins 800m gold at World Short Course Championships
Topic:Swimming
13m ago13 minutes agoWed 11 Dec 2024 at 9:13pm
Lani Pallister holds up her hands
Lani Pallister defended her 800m title. (Swimming Australia: Delly Carr)
In short:
Lani Pallister claimed her third medal of the World Short Course Championships, winning gold in the 800m freestyle.
Alex Perkins claimed bronze in the 50m butterfly.
What's next?
The World Short Course Championships continue at the Duna Arena this week in Hungary.
Lani Pallister has defended her 800m freestyle world title at the World Short Course Championships in Hungary.
Pallister swam a new Australian and Championship record time of 8:01.95, leading the race from start to finish at the Duna Arena.
The 22-year-old had earlier pulled out of swimming in the heats for the 100m heats to concentrate on defending the title she won in 2022 in Melbourne.
The victory is all the more remarkable given Pallister's preparation had been disrupted by worrying about the health of her godmother, swim legend Dawn Fraser, who broke four ribs in a fall a few days ago.
The medal is Pallister's third of the championships following winning silver in the 400m freestyle and women's 4x100m freestyle relay on day one.
Sunshine Coast butterfly swimmer Alex Perkins also won silver in that relay and added to her tally with a bronze in the 50m butterfly.
Alex Perkins holds up her arms
Alex Perkins won her second medal of the championships. (Swimming Australia: Delly Carr)
The 24-year-old touched in 24.68, a new personal best and Oceania record behind American Gretchen Walsh (24.01) and France's Beryl Gastaldello (24.43).
There was disappointment for Josh Yong, who despite swimming a new national record time of 56.62 in the 100m breaststroke semi-final, will still miss the final.
Teenage sprinter Milla Jansen proved there is life after the retirement of Cate Campbell and Emma McKeown by claiming a spot in the women's 100m freestyle final, her first major international final in her first meet with the national team.
Jansen, who turned 18 during staging camp in Slovakia, touched in 52.31, claiming a spot in the final by just 0.03 of a second.
Iona Anderson just missed out on a medal in the women's 100m backstroke, swimming 56.08, while Isaac Cooper finished seventh in the men's 100m back in a time of 49.60.
The mixed 4 x 50m medley relay team of Cooper, Yong, Perkins and Meg Harris also finished fourth in 1:36.78.
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Posted13m ago13 minutes agoWed 11 Dec 2024 at 9:13pm, updated4m ago4 minutes agoWed 11 Dec 2024 at 9:22pm
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