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. She is a three-time, 2018, 2019, 2020, Pier to Pub open water swim winner.
Background
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. 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.
Career
2017–2018
2017 World Junior Championships
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 followed up with a first open water title in the annual Pier to Pub swim in January 2018 at 15 years of age.
2018 National Pool Life Saving Championships
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.
2018 Junior Pan Pacific Championships
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.
2018 World Lifesaving Championships
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.
2019–2020
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.