Australian Lani Pallister upsets Katie Ledecky to win Pan Pacs gold in 400m freestyle

Lani Pallister was on a mission from the jump in the women’s 400 freestyle at the 2026 Pan Pacific Championships.

The Australian challenged Katie Ledecky immediately, taking out the race full second ahead at the 50-meter mark and 1.5 seconds up by the 100. Pallister never let go of her early lead.

By the 150 meter mark, the Aussie’s lead had swelled to two full seconds. Ledecky clawed some of it back, cutting the gap to 1.84 seconds at the penultimate turn, but Pallister’s gutsy, “full-send” strategy had built her a multiple-body-length cushion.

Even the greatest women’s freestyler of all time didn’t have enough pool left to run her down. Ledecky attempted to shrink the gap on the final 50, but Pallister held on to complete the upset, winning her second gold of the meet in 3:58.42.

Ledecky took silver in 4:00.15, with New Zealand’s Erika Fairweather third in 4:02.35.

It’s another big win for Pallister, who has now beaten both Ledecky and Summer McIntosh both this week in freestyle events. The race sets up a fitting rubber match in tomorrow’s 800m freestyle.

Ledecky won the 1500 freestyle on day one and Pallister has now taken the 400 freestyle. The two will meet a third time in the 800 freestyle to close out the meet with the series tied 1-1 heading into their final duel.

The even also carried an unavoidable subplot. Earlier in the session, McIntosh, who missed the championship final entirely in prelims, won the B-final by seven seconds in 4:00.58, a time that would have made her a real factor in tonight’s championship final. It’s hard not to wonder how McIntosh might have added to the drama between Pallister and Ledecky.

With the season coming to a close, the 800 free tomorrow now carries real stakes: whoever wins takes the freestyle rubber match of the week, with Ledecky looking to reclaim the upper hand and Pallister chasing what would be a two stunning wins.