Katie Ledecky's decades-long dominance in the 800-meter freestyle at international competitions has come to an end. The nine-time Olympic gold medalist was defeated by Australia's Lani Pallister at the Pan Pacific Championships on Saturday night, marking the first time Ledecky has lost the event in an international meet.
Pallister finished the 800-meter freestyle in 8:06.10, more than a second ahead of Ledecky, who clocked in at 8:07.26 to take the silver medal. This marks only the second time since 2010 that Ledecky has been defeated in the 800-meter freestyle, an event in which she has won four Olympic gold medals.
"That was definitely my best swim of the week, so I’m actually pretty happy with it," Ledecky told reporters following the race. "If I was going to get second tonight, I wanted to make it a good one. It’s a season best, so you can’t complain about that. It’s fine. I wasn’t really thinking too much about my history in the event or anything leading into this. I just wanted to have a good last event here. I’m really proud of the history I have in this event, and that doesn’t go anywhere just from getting second."
The 29-year-old Ledecky also finished behind Pallister in the 400-meter freestyle, though she secured a gold medal in the 1,500-meter freestyle earlier in the competition. Pallister, 24, expressed pride in her performance, stating, "It’s not just this year. It’s an accumulation of hardships and training and performance shifts and moving out of home and that sort of thing. So I think that result’s the sum of a lot of little moments and it’s something that I’ll never take for granted."
With the Los Angeles Olympics two years away, this result highlights a growing challenge for Ledecky as she prepares for competition on home soil.