Australia’s Lani Pallister has withdrawn from the women’s 1500m freestyle after testing positive for Covid, the Australian Olympic Committee announced an hour before her anticipated heat swim on Tuesday.
Pallister won bronze in the long distance event at the 2022 world championships, but opted to withdraw from the Paris 2024 race in the hope of recovering in time for Australia’s 4x200m freestyle relay on Thursday. The Dolphins are strong favourites in that event, after Mollie O’Callaghan and Ariarne Titmus won gold and silver in the individual 200m freestyle on Monday night.
The 22-year-old’s withdrawal leaves Moesha Johnson as the only Australian in the 1500m race; Johnson will also swim in the 10 kilometre open water marathon swimming later in the Games.
The AOC’s announcement has sparked fears of a growing Covid risk on the pool deck, after British swim star Adam Peaty tested positive on Monday less than 24 hours after winning silver in the 100m breaststroke.
Pallister is not the only Australian Olympian to go down with Covid in Paris – several members of the women’s water polo team, the Stingers, tested positive on the eve of the Games.
Chef de mission insisted that the Australian team was taking a different approach to Covid than three years ago, when the Tokyo Olympics were held amid the height of the pandemic.
“This is a high-performance environment, so we are being diligent,” Meares said at a press conference last week. “But I need to emphasise we’re treating Covid no differently to other bugs like the flu – this is not Tokyo.”
The Dolphins have taken a precautionary approach, though, wearing masks in crowded environments. It is not believed Pallister’s positive test will lead to significant protocol changes within the Australian team.
After three days of finals at the Paris swim meet, Australia lead the field with three gold medals, while the United States and Italy have two gold medals apiece. On Tuesday night, Australian star Kaylee McKeown will go for gold in the women’s 100m backstroke, while the men will battle it out in the 4x200m freestyle relay.
