Lani Pallister

Lani Pallister (born 6 June 2002) is an Australian competitive swimmer.

She is a world record holder in two sports, with a world record in swimming, the short course 4×200-metre freestyle relay, and world records in life saving for the youth age group in the 100-metre rescue medley and 200-metre super lifesaver.

She holds the Oceanian, Commonwealth, and Australian records in the short course 1500-metre freestyle and the Australian record in the short course 800-metre freestyle.

She is the first female World Short Course champion in the 1500-metre freestyle, winning the inaugural event for women at the 2022 edition.

Over the course of the 2022 World Short Course Championships, she won the gold medal in each of the four events she contested (three individual events and one relay).

At the 2022 World Aquatics Championships, she became the first Australian woman to medal in the 1500-metre freestyle at a World Aquatics Championships, winning the bronze medal.

Pallister was born on 6 June 2002 in Sydney to mother Janelle Pallister, a swimmer at the 1988 Summer Olympics and gold medalist at the 1990 Commonwealth Games.

In August, 15-year-old Pallister competed at the 2017 FINA World Junior Swimming Championships, held in Indianapolis, United States, placing eighth in the 1500-metre freestyle with a 16:32.59 and tenth in the 800-metre freestyle with a 8:39.86.

She is a three-time, 2018, 2019, 2020, Pier to Pub open water swim winner.

She followed up with a first open water title in the annual Pier to Pub swim in January 2018 at 15 years of age.

When Pallister was 16 years old, she set a new world life saving record in the 100-metre rescue medley of 1:12.14 at the 2018 National Pool Championships in Adelaide in August, lowering the previous record by over three tenths of a second.

At the 2018 Junior Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in Suva, Fiji in August, Pallister won gold medals in the 1500-metre freestyle, 800-metre freestyle, 400-metre freestyle, as well as silver medals in the 4×200-metre freestyle relay and the 200-metre freestyle.

Her time of 16:08.09 in the 1500-metre freestyle set a new Championships record in the event.

She also won a silver medal in the 4×100-metre freestyle relay, which made her total medal count for the Championships six medals.

Returning to Adelaide following her success at the Junior Pan Pacific Championships, Pallister competed at the 2018 World Lifesaving Championships in November, helping team Australia win the world crown at the Championships.

In the 200-metre super lifesaver event she set a new youth world life saving record in the event at 2:24.19.

She also set a new world life saving record in the 100-metre rescue medley at 1:10.21, which was almost two seconds faster than the previous record she set in August.

In January 2019, Pallister won her second-consecutive title in the Pier to Pub open water swim in Lorne, winning the women's event, a 1.2-kilometre race, in a time of 12:20.

Two months later, in March at the year's Surf Life Saving Australia Championships in Burleigh Heads, 16-year-old Pallister narrowly won the national title in the 2-kilometre ocean swim ahead of second-place finisher Kareena Lee.

As a 17-year-old at the 2019 FINA World Junior Swimming Championships in Budapest, Hungary in August, Pallister won her first medal, a silver medal, in the 4×200-metre freestyle relay where she split a 1:58.61 for the lead-off leg of the relay, helping achieve a final time of 7:57.87.

She won her first gold medal in the 800-metre freestyle, where she finished first with a Championships record time of 8:22.49.

Pallister delivered her second gold medal in Championships record time in the 400-metre freestyle with a time of 4:05.42.

On 24 August, Pallister won the 1500-metre freestyle with a time of 15:58.86, which marked her third gold medal at the Championships, set a new Championships record in the event, and was over 15 seconds faster than the next fastest swimmer in the event.

Later in the same finals session, she won her second silver medal of the Championships, this time in the 4×100-metre freestyle relay where she swam a 55.23 for the third leg of the relay, contributing to the final time of 3:40.85.

Pallister finished competing on 25 August, the final day of competition, winning a silver medal in the 200-metre freestyle with a time of 1:58.09 and making her efforts six-for-six in terms of medaling in every event she raced, winning a total of three gold medals and three silver medals.

After the end of competition, Pallister was named as one of two swimmers of the Championships, receiving the "Female Swimmer of the Championships" honour from FINA while Andrey Minakov of Russia was named as "Male Swimmer of the Championships".

She was publicly announced as a nominee for the "One to Watch" award, one of the Australian Women's Health Sport Awards, in October 2019.

The following month, Pallister was announced as the recipient of the "One to Watch" award.

She has been coached by her mother since a young age and in 2020 changed swimming clubs to Griffith University where she is coached by both Janelle Pallister and Michael Bohl.

Her godmother is Olympian Dawn Fraser.

Pallister started off 2020 with a third-consecutive open water title in the Pier to Pub swim in January.

In September, at the Queensland Short Course Championships, she set a new Australian record and a new Australian All Comers record in the 800-metre freestyle with a time of 8:11.71, which made her the first Australian woman to swim the race in less than 8 minutes and 12 seconds.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic the 2020 Australian Short Course Championships were held virtually in November, Pallister took full advantage of the Championships still being held and set a new Australian record and a new Australian All Comers record in the 800-metre freestyle with her time of 8:10.12.

She also set new Australian and Australian All Comers records in the 1500-metre freestyle with a time of 15:28.33 that made her the fourth fastest female swimmer in the race in history only behind Sarah Köhler of Germany, Mireia Belmonte of Spain, and Lauren Boyle of New Zealand.

Leading up to the 2022 Commonwealth Games, Pallister and her mother both served as baton bearers as part of the 2022 Commonwealth Games Queen's Baton Relay in March.

As of 30 March 2022, Pallister ranked second globally for the 2022 year in the long course 1500-metre freestyle, only behind Katie Ledecky of the United States.

At the 2022 Australian Swimming Championships in May, and conducted in long course metres, Pallister won the gold medal in the 800-metre freestyle with a personal best time of 8:17.77 and qualified for the 2022 World Aquatics Championships and 2022 Commonwealth Games.

Her time made her the second-fastest female Australian ever in the long course 800-metre freestyle after Ariarne Titmus.

On the third day, she swam a personal best time of 1:57.23 in the prelims heats of the 200-metre freestyle, qualifying for the final ranking fifth.

In the final, she lowered her personal best time to a 1:56.28 and placed sixth.