The Dolphins exceeded expectations at the Pan Pacs. There’s even better to come in LA 2028

Los Angeles: When half a dozen of Australia’s top swimmers decided not to compete at the Pan Pacific Championships, there were fears of an American bloodbath at the quadrennial event in Irvine, California.

The reality could not have been more different. The USA won 19 gold medals to Australia’s 15 in a hugely encouraging sign for the Dolphins less than two years out from the Los Angeles Olympics.

Two of their biggest stars, backstroker Kaylee McKeown (glandular fever) and freestyler Mollie O’Callaghan, (back) missed the event due to health concerns.

Australia’s most bankable gold medal prospect right now is reigning Olympic and world champion Cam McEvoy in the 50m freestyle, but he was back in Queensland plotting his next campaign. Kyle Chalmers was on dad duties in Paris watching his wife compete at the European Championships – a meeting that has provided another useful measuring stick against the Dolphins’ performances in California.

Flynn Southam, arguably Australia’s breakout star of the Commonwealth Games after his sizzling 47.09 in the 100m freestyle, posted photos of himself fishing back home, while 203-centimetre backstroker Henry Allan is back in Australia preparing for school exams. Shayna Jack has retired and is about to get married.

Yet Australia filled those enormous gaps with aplomb, producing a stack of personal bests, unexpected winners and performances that suggest the Dolphins’ depth remains the envy of most swimming nations. Had Australia been at full strength, there is every chance they would have topped the medal tally.

Sam Short (400m, 800m and 1500m freestyle gold) and Lani Pallister (200m, 400m and 800m freestyle gold, plus 1500m silver) were the obvious standouts. Both arrived in Irvine with scars from Paris. Short described his 2024 Olympic campaign as a “failure” after illness ruined his preparation, while Pallister contracted COVID-19 in Paris and, upon returning home, considered walking away from the sport.

On the first night of competition at the LA Olympics in two years, they will contest the 400m freestyle finals in front of up to 38,000 spectators at SoFi Stadium, both as genuine gold medal chances.

No Australian man has ever won three individual swimming gold medals at a single Olympics, while Shane Gould remains the only Australian swimmer to achieve the feat. Irvine showed how tough Short really is as he came good on his promise to “smash the Yanks” . A trifecta in LA will be incredibly difficult and Short would probably be happy with one gold.

Pallister’s best chances of gold in LA remain the 800m freestyle, 1500m freestyle and 400m freestyle – in that order.

Her victory over Katie Ledecky in the 800m free was the performance of the meeting from an Australian perspective, and an enormous psychological breakthrough. Ledecky had never been beaten over 800m at a major international meeting.

Pallister also beat Ledecky in the 400m, but there was no hyperbole afterwards. She knows Irvine is not LA.

Elsewhere, Australia’s inexperienced women’s 4x200m freestyle relay team had no right to beat the USA.