IRVINE, California — The 2026 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships delivered a night of stunning upsets, tight finishes and historic moments Friday, as Australia’s rising freestyle star Lani Pallister out-touched American legend Katie Ledecky to claim gold in the women’s 400-meter freestyle, while Team USA pulled off a historic double victory in both the men’s and women’s 4×100-meter freestyle relays.
The night’s marquee event lost some of its pre-race buzz when 19-year-old Canadian world record holder Summer McIntosh surprisingly failed to qualify for the championship final after a misjudged preliminary swim. McIntosh, who entered the event as the overwhelming favorite, clocked a 4:08.56 in the morning heats, placing ninth and missing the final cut by more than three seconds. Taking to social media after the misstep, the Canadian accepted full responsibility, writing on her Instagram account that she had misjudged the effort required in the preliminary round. She later won the consolation ‘B’ final in 4:00.58 — a time that would have earned her a bronze medal in the championship final.
Pallister, a 24-year-old Australian who has long cited Ledecky as her career inspiration, blazed through the first 150 meters of the final on world record pace before holding off a late charge from the American star to touch the wall in 3:58.42. Ledecky, who entered the final lap more than a second behind Pallister, closed hard but ultimately settled for silver with a time of 4:00.15. New Zealand’s Erika Fairweather rounded out the podium to take bronze.
“It could see Katie catching me on the last 150 and that’s a very nerve-wracking feeling,” Pallister told reporters after the race. Ledecky, for her part, acknowledged she was not fully satisfied with her performance, noting “I never like being over 4 minutes in an international final, but I put together the best race I could. I thought I had a good back half, just wasn’t out quick enough.”
The result solidifies Pallister’s status as one of Ledecky’s fiercest top rivals heading into the 2028 Olympic Games, which will be held in Los Angeles just two years from now. The Australian has been rapidly climbing the ranks of international distance freestyle, collecting medals across 200m, 400m, 800m and 1500m events in recent major competitions. Earlier this week at the championships, she already claimed gold in the 200m freestyle, beating both McIntosh and Fairweather, while Ledecky took gold in the 1500m freestyle ahead of Pallister.
“I’ve never taken my competition for granted, even when I was winning by big margins,” Ledecky said. “I just have a lot of great competition from all over the world right now.”
Team USA delivered the crowd a pair of historic relay victories later in the session, sweeping both the men’s and women’s 4x100m freestyle events. The American women broke their own national record and the Pan Pacific championship record on the way to gold, clocking 3:29.32 to beat Australia. It marked the first time the U.S. women had defeated Australia in the event at the Pan Pacific Championships since 2017. The team of Kate Douglass, Gretchen Walsh, Torri Huske and Simone Walsh saw Douglass clock the second-fastest 100m leadoff split in history at 51.69 seconds, though the standout swimmer said she left disappointed after falling just short of the world record she targeted.
For the men, Chris Guiliano, Patrick Sammon, Destin Lasco and anchor Jack Alexy held off a late push from the Australian team to claim gold in a new championship record time of 3:09.01. The mark fell just 0.77 seconds off the iconic world record of 3:08.24 set by the U.S. men’s team at the 2008 Beijing Olympics — a race remembered for Jason Lezak’s historic final leg that secured Michael Phelps’ eighth gold medal of the Games. Alexy said the long-standing world record remains a top target for the new generation of American sprinters.
“That record has been in a lot of people’s eyes for a long time,” Alexy said. “I’m really confident we’ll get that record.”
The night’s results also delivered a handful of other historic moments for Australia. Sam Short claimed gold in the men’s 400m freestyle, breaking a 27-year-old Pan Pacific championship record previously held by Australian legend Ian Thorpe with a time of 3:40.52. China’s Zhang Zhanshuo took silver in the event. Australia also claimed the top two spots on the podium in the men’s 100m butterfly, with Matthew Temple taking gold and Ben Armbruster silver. Regan Smith led a 1-2 American finish in the women’s 200m backstroke, clocking 2:05.55 after holding a world record pace through the first 100 meters, with teammate Claire Curzan taking silver. Japan’s Yumeki Kojima claimed gold in the men’s 200m backstroke, while China’s Tang Qianting won the women’s 50m breaststroke. Australia’s Sam Williamson took gold in the men’s 50m breaststroke in a new championship record of 26.36.