Australian Lani Pallister broke Katie Ledecky’s short-course 800m freestyle world record by 3.42 seconds, one of five total world records on the final day of the World Aquatics Swimming World Cup.
Pallister clocked 7 minutes, 54.00 seconds in Toronto, beating Ledecky’s world record of 7:57.42 from Nov. 5, 2022. That was one of only two times Ledecky has raced the 800m free in short-course meters (25-meter pool).
Most major meets, including the Olympics and summer World Championships, are in 50-meter pools (long course).
“It’s kind of weird, I never thought I’d individually have a world record,” Pallister said. “I guess short course is the first step to the goals that I have for the future.”
SWIMMING: Full Results
Pallister, 23, nearly beat Ledecky in the long-course 800m free at this past summer’s worlds. Pallister finished 36 hundredths behind in an event that Ledecky hasn’t lost at a major meet in her career.
Also Saturday, American Kate Douglass became the first woman to break 50 seconds in the 100m freestyle.
Douglass, the Olympic 200m breast gold medalist, won in 49.93, beating her own world record of 50.19 from last weekend’s World Cup stop in Westmont, Illinois.
Douglass’ world record also helped her leap past fellow former Virginia Cavalier Gretchen Walsh for the World Cup overall title as the best female swimmer across all events for the three-stop series.
Australian Kaylee McKeown and American Regan Smith each swam faster than the 200m backstroke world record for the second consecutive week.
McKeown lowered her own world record from 1:57.87, set last Sunday in Westmont, to 1:57.33. Smith, whose record McKeown broke in Westmont, clocked 1:57.86 on Saturday.
In the men’s 100m back, Hungarian Hubert Kos swam 48.16 to beat the world record of 48.33 set by American Coleman Stewart in 2021. Kos broke the 200m back world record in Toronto on Thursday.
Dutchman Caspar Corbeau took the 200m breast world record down from 2:00.16 to 1:59.52. Russian Kirill Prigoda set the previous record in 2018.
The next top-level swim meet is the Toyota U.S. Open from Dec. 3-6 with live coverage on Peacock.
