Lani Pallister joins Ledecky in cracking 1500m freestyle barrier
Lani Pallister became only the third woman to swim under 15mins 40secs in the 1500m freestyle Saturday, joining American great Katie Ledecky and Dane Lottie Friis.
Pallister hit the wall at the Australian world championship trials in Adelaide in 15:39.14, a new Commonwealth record.
'I was chasing number two all the time. I was looking at the rankings, and Lottie Friis is one that stood for a long time, obviously, only behind Katie,' said Pallister.
'I fell apart with like 500 to go. I felt so sick. But I'm just really stoked with the week that I put together.'
ALSO READ | Summer McIntosh breaks 400m medley world record
Friis' 15:38.88 was set in 2013. Ledecky owns all 23 fastest times ahead of that, including the world record of 15:20.48.
Pallister's time capped a breakthrough meet for the 23-year-old, who shattered Ariarne Titmus' 800m national record and went under four minutes for the first time in the 400m.
Ella Ramsay, 20, was another standout swimmer, booking a fourth event at next month's world championships in Singapore by winning the 400m medley in 4:36.12 ahead of Jenna Forrester (4:36.19).
She also won the 200m medley and 200m breaststroke and came second in the 100m breaststroke.
'Last day is always hard and even harder having the 400m medley,' said Ramsay, with the trials in their sixth and final day.
'I had to keep it composed and I'm really happy with that time.'
Ramsay was at the Paris Olympics and part of Australia's silver-medal winning 4x100m medley relay team. She came fifth in the 400m medley but a bout of Covid derailed her 200m medley campaign.
She joins Mollie O'Callaghan (50-100m backstroke and 100-200m freestyle) as the only swimmers to qualify for four individual events.
O'Callaghan missed out on making a fifth when she finished fourth in the 50m freestyle, won by Olympic silver medallist Meg Harris in 24.17.
ALSO READ | Olympic medallist Kaylee McKeown cruises to 100m backstroke crown at Australian trials
Olivia Wunsch and Alex Perkins tied for second in 24.70, with a decision yet to be made on which one will take the second available slot.
Harris is a serious gold medal prospect with Swedish world record holder Sarah Sjostrom, who beat her to the Paris Olympic title, pregnant and not racing this year.
'That's what I was training for,' Harris said.
'I found a new way to motivate myself this year, and I found a new appreciation for the sport.'
Olympic 400m medley bronze medallist Brendon Smith punched his ticket with a 4:12.81 swim ahead of Will Petric (4:13.23), who also qualified.
A rejuvenated Kyle Chalmers will take on three events in Singapore after touching first in 22.89 in the 50m butterfly. Olympic 50m freestyle champion Cameron McEvoy was disqualified after coming second.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Hindustan Times
16 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
US Open leader Burns eyes first major title at historic Oakmont
On a punishing Oakmont course famed for crowning first-time major winners, Sam Burns finds himself on the brink of joining a historic list. The 28-year-old American will carry a one-stroke lead into Sunday's final round of the 125th US Open after firing a one-under-par 69 in Saturday's third round to stand on four-under 206. Burns, who leads compatriot J.J. Spaun and 2013 Masters winner Adam Scott of Australia by one stroke, is among nine first-major hopefuls in the top 10. Seven first-time major winners at Oakmont include 18-time major winner Jack Nicklaus, South African Ernie Els and Americans Johnny Miller and Dustin Johnson. "It would be incredible," Burns said. "As a kid growing up you dream about winning major championships and that's why we practice so hard and work so hard. "The opportunity to win a major is special. I'm definitely really excited for tomorrow. "The history here and all the people that have been before me and walked these grounds and played here, it's really special." Players with a 54-hole solo lead in a major for the first time, like Burns, have won three of the last five opportunities, including Bryson DeChambeau at last year's US Open, fellow American Scottie Scheffler at the 2022 Masters and Japan's Hideki Matsuyama at the 2021 Masters. Close Burns friend Scheffler, the world number one, has taken three major titles, two at the Masters and last month's PGA Championship. "Scottie is an incredible player," Burns said. "We spend a lot of time together and being able to talk to him and just learn from him and ask him questions, it has been really cool. "He's an easy guy to root for. He happens to be also the best player in the world. But, yeah, it has been nice to pick his brain and ask him certain things." Burns, who shares a rental house this week with Scheffler and their families, admits he would love to know some of the major-winning experiences that Scheffler has enjoyed, but not in an envious tone. "Yeah, as a competitor, we show up to play to win," Burns said. "Watching him do that and watching him have success, it brings me a lot of joy." Putting has been a joyful experience this week too. Burns and Ryan Fox of New Zealand are the only players without a three-putt bogey this week. "The course I play at at home, Squire Creek, it has big surfaces and lots of slope," Burns said. "So I think I'm kind of used to having a 15- or 20-footer that may break five or six feet. I like that kind of artistic ability to kind of see the break." Burns is known for not making changes in life or golf, but a first major win is one he longs for. "My dad has always said you got to dance with who brought you," Burns said. "My coach and I have been working together since I was 15 or 16, and it seems way more complicated to go seek advice from someone else who doesn't know me or my golf swing." js/rcw
Hindustan Times
26 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
Adam Scott stands out amid U.S. Open leaderboard of fresh faces
OAKMONT, Pa. Asked Friday how he'd describe his window to win another major championship, Adam Scott had a one-word zinger: "Ajar." Yes, a self-effacing but fair assessment when you're pushing 45. But perhaps Scott didn't foresee the round he would shoot on Saturday. Scott followed consecutive even-par 70s with a third-round 67 thanks to a torrid back nine at Oakmont Country Club, and suddenly, the Australian went from hanging around to firmly in the mix at the U.S. Open. Sam Burns took the 54-hole lead at 4 under par, but Scott grabbed a share of second place alongside J.J. Spaun. Of the top five on the leaderboard featuring Burns, Spaun, Viktor Hovland of Norway and Carlos Ortiz of Mexico only Scott has won a major. In fact, most of the others have limited experience simply contending on the weekend. Scott has been here time and time again, with 20 top-10 finishes at majors from 2002-24. If Scott outlasts his greener competition, he would be the second-oldest winner in U.S. Open history behind Hale Irwin in 1990. It would also mark the longest gap between a player's first and second major wins; it's been 12 years and change since he slipped on the green jacket at Augusta National. "It would be super fulfilling," Scott said. "Everyone out here has got their journey, you know. Putting ourselves in these positions doesn't just happen by fluke. It's not easy to do it." Scott was even for his round before a pair of tremendous shots into the 13th and 14th greens to set up birdies. At the former, a par-3, he landed his iron shot inside 5 feet. Then he dialed up the backspin on his wedge into the 14th and nearly holed it. "It was like a readjustment out there today. Obviously it was softer, and controlling spin to some pins was very difficult. But I just tried not to force anything. I played safe shots and accepted I wasn't going to finish next to the hole when wasn't dialed in." His last birdie came at the par-4 17th, where he escaped the greenside bunker and rolled in a 14-footer. Scott went 3-for-3 on sand saves for the day, and his playing partner, Hovland, singled him out by saying he had a "brilliant" round. Hovland was 15 years old when Scott won the Masters. The younger generation that represents most of this U.S. Open leaderboard know what Scott can do, even if glimpses have been rarer lately. "I really haven't been in this kind of position for five or six years, or feeling like I'm that player. But that's what I'm always working towards," Scott said. "It's not that easy to figure it all out. "But if I were to come away with it , it would be a hell of a round of golf and an exclamation point on my career." Adam Zielonka, Field Level Media
Hindustan Times
2 hours ago
- Hindustan Times
Burns grabs US Open lead with Scott and Spaun one back
Sam Burns fired a one-under-par 69 to seize a one-stroke lead over fellow American J.J. Spaun and Australian Adam Scott after Saturday's third round of the US Open. Burns, whose most recent win came at the 2023 WGC Match Play, stood on four-under 206 after 54 holes while Spaun, whose only PGA Tour win came at the 2022 Texas Open, shot 69 with a bogey at 18 to share second on 207. Scott, the 2013 Masters champion, birdied three of the last six holes to fire a 67 and reach 207, two strokes ahead of Norway's Viktor Hovland in fourth. The four will play in the last two pairings once again on Sunday in a tension-packed final round for the $4.3 million top prize. Last-group playing partners Burns and Spaun traded the lead all day, a wild early exchange ending when Burns made a tap-in birdie at the fifth to match Spaun at three-under. Burns sank a seven-foot birdie putt at the par-three 13th to seize the solo lead at four-under but fell back with a bogey at 16. Both birdied the 17th, Burns landing his approach inches from the hole and Spaun sinking a putt from just inside 14 feet. At 18, both went into the right rough but Burns reached the green while Spaun found a bunker. Spaun blasted out and two-putted for bogey while Burns sank a four-foot par putt to grab the solo lead. Scott, 44, can be the second-oldest US Open winner after American Hale Irwin, who was 45 when he won in 1990. Scott landed his tee shot inside five feet at the par-three 13th and dropped his approach inches from the hole at 14 to set up birdies, then escaped a bunker at 17 and sank a 14-foot birdie putt. Hovland blasted out of a bunker to set up a tap-in bogey at 17, but made bogey from a bunker at 18. Mexico's Carlos Ortiz fired a 67 to stand fifth on level par 210, a stumble at the last hole dooming a bogey-free bid. Ortiz, a LIV Golf player who won an Asian Tour event in Macau in March, made the cut for only the third time in 10 major starts and has never finished a major in the top 50. "It would be great. Winning any kind of tournament is awesome," Ortiz said of capturing the title. "I'm just going to do my best and hopefully that's enough. If not, that's all I had." England's Tyrrell Hatton, another LIV player, birdied three of the first four holes on the back nine and shot 68 to stand on 211, sharing sixth with South African Thriston Lawrence. Big names struggled with world number two Rory McIlroy making bogeys on three of his last five holes to fire a 74 and stand on 220. "I was hoping to play better, but I didn't," McIlroy said, calling his tournament "pretty average" so far. "The name of the game this week is staying patient," McIlroy said. "But it's one of those golf courses that you can lose patience on pretty quickly." Northern Ireland's McIlroy, who completed a career Grand Slam by winning the Masters for his fifth major title, had bogeys on the third and ninth holes, followed a birdie at 10 with bogeys at 11, 14 and 16 and closed birdie-bogey. Top-ranked Scottie Scheffler, seeking back-to-back major titles after taking last month's PGA Championship, fired a 70 with four birdies and four bogeys, sinking a five-foot birdie putt at 17 to stand on 214 after 54 holes. "I had a hard time getting momentum," Scheffler said. "I made a few silly mistakes, a couple three-putts, which is just a killer." Two-time major winner Jon Rahm of Spain made a double bogey at 15 and found a bunker on his way to a bogey at 18 to fire a 73 and stand on 217. Third-ranked American Xander Schauffele, the reigning British Open champion, shot 71 to stand on 217. js/rcw
