Lani Pallister Breaks the Championships Record in 1500m at World Juniors

7th FINA World Junior Swimming Championships 2019

• 50-Meter Course
• Duna Arena, Budapest (Hungary)
• Pool swimming: Tuesday, August 20 – Sunday, August 25, 2019
• Heats 9:30am GMT+2 (3:30 am EDT / 12:30 am PDT)/ Semifinals and Finals 5:30pm GMT+2 (11:30am EDT / 8:30am PDT)
• Meet site
• Entries book
• FinaTV Live Stream(subscription required)
• Live results

Women’s 1500 Free – Fastest Heat

• WR 15:20.48 58.50 2:00.25 4:04.88 8:11.70 LEDECKY Katie USA Indianapolis (USA) 16 MAY 2018
• CR 15:59.51 1:01.98 2:06.47 4:15.48 8:32.39 PIGNATIELLO Delfina ARG Indianapolis, IN (USA) 27 AUG 2017
• WJR 15:28.36 59.34 2:01.85 4:06.57 8:16.90 LEDECKY Katie USA Gold Coast (AUS) 21 AUG 2014

Lani Pallister of Australia has broken the Championships Record in the 1500m freestyle with 15:58.86, winning the gold medal over Giulia Salin and Chase Travis at 2019 World Junior Championships in Budapest on Saturday. The old mark belonged to Argentina’s Delfina Pignatiello who went 15:59.51 to win the event at 2017 World Junior Championships in Indianapolis. Interestingly, Pallister went 16:32.59 in Indianapolis, producing the fastest time of the slower heats. That swim landed her in eighth place overall.

Pallister went 16:08.09 to win the 1500 free at 2018 Junior Pan Pacific Championships then dropped to 16:06.84 at the 2019 Australian World Swimming Trials in June. That time broke the Australian 17-year-old national record that had belonged to her mother, Janelle Elford.

By the 200 mark, Pallister was almost four seconds ahead of Pignatiello’s record pace. She increased that to a five second distance at the 850m turn. As the race started to close, so did her lead over the record. She ultimately beat Pignatiello’s record by 0.65 seconds. Below is a side-by-side comparison of Pignatiello’s and Pallister’s record-breaking splits.

Pallister finished fifteen seconds ahead of silver medalist Giulia Salin (16:14.00). Italy’s Salin was fighting for second place right from the start. Beril Bocekler of Turkey and USA’s Chase Travis (16:18.04) posed a threat, with the three women turning at nearly the same time until Salin pulled ahead at the 800m turn. Salin was seven seconds behind Pallister at the 500, and nine behind at the 1000 mark. She finished the race strong, remaining four seconds ahead of third-place finisher Travis.

Pallister’s time makes her the 11^th fastest 1500m swimmer in the world for the year.