Lani Pallister

Lani Pallister, the Australian distance swimmer who beat Katie Ledecky in the 800 free at Pan Pacs this summer, joins Katie Hoff Anderson and Elizabeth Beisel to explain what changed when she moved to Dean Boxall's squad at St Peters, why she still expects herself to swim fast, and what it is really like racing the kindest person in the sport.

Lani walks through the last 18 months, from a mid-season move in the spring of 2025 to a World Championships final in Singapore that everyone had framed as Katie versus Summer, where she ended up second in 8:05. She tells a lunch crowd that she dropped ten seconds in ten weeks, and Cate Campbell answers from the stage with her own number. She talks about Commonwealth Games and Pan Pacs back to back, the 200 free and 1500 double, and the hug from Katie Ledecky after the 800.

The deeper thread is how much of it is mental. Lani says the change with Dean is "more mental than it is physical", explains why she will not shave her legs or have caffeine until after the morning heat, and describes the Monday threshold sets that end with her throwing up, which is why Australian officials now hand her a bag at the end of the pool. In her words, "I dropped 10 seconds in the space of like 10 weeks with Dean."

She also gets into Lane Four, the swimming app she built with Kaylee McKeown, Mollie O'Callaghan, Jamie Perkins, Hannah Fredericks and Taylor McKeown, what six founders in a group chat has taught her about communicating, and why surf lifesaving still feels like a place she should be unbeatable, even if she races it less now to protect her ankles.

There is plenty of fun in here too: she makes Dean's coffee every second day, her new apartment is mostly pink and has no sofa yet, she carries film cameras around the pool deck, and she lost a chip game in San Diego that sent her onto the lane rope after a race at Pan Pacs.

She closes with the rapid fire: her treat meal, her favourite race ever, the last time she cried to Dean that she was bad at swimming, and how she handles people who do her wrong. In her words, "I'll forgive but I won't forget." It is a relaxed, funny conversation for anyone who follows distance swimming or wants to know who Lani is away from the blocks.

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