Lani Pallister has defended her 800-metre freestyle world title at the World Short Course Championships in Hungary.
Pallister swam a new Australian and Championship record time of 8 minutes and 01.95 seconds, leading the race from start to finish at the Duna Arena.
The medal is Pallister's third of the championships following winning silver in the 400m freestyle and women's 4x100m freestyle relay on day one.
"I have a lot to thank my mum for," Pallister told World Aquatics of her mum and coach Janelle Elford.
"I am really happy to end 2024 the way it's going.
"After the 400 yesterday, I thought I might crack. I am struggling a bit with confidence.
"I wanted to see how close I could go to 8:00. I am more than happy."
The 22-year-old had earlier pulled out of swimming in the heats for the 100m heats to concentrate on defending the title she won in 2022 in Melbourne.
The victory is all the more remarkable given Pallister's preparation had been disrupted by worrying about the health of her godmother, swim legend Dawn Fraser, who broke four ribs in a fall a few days ago.
Sunshine Coast butterfly swimmer Alex Perkins also won silver in that relay and added to her tally with a bronze in the 50m butterfly.
The 24-year-old touched in 24.68, a new personal best and Oceania record behind American Gretchen Walsh (24.01), who had set a new world record of 23.94 in the semi-final, and France's Beryl Gastaldello (24.43).
There was disappointment for Josh Yong, who despite swimming a new national record time of 56.62 in the 100m breaststroke semi-final, still missed out on a spot in the final.
Teenage sprinter Milla Jansen proved there is life after the retirement of Cate Campbell and Emma McKeown by claiming a spot in the women's 100m freestyle final, her first major international final in her first meet with the national team.
Jansen, who turned 18 during staging camp in Slovakia, touched in 52.31, claiming a spot in the final by just 0.03 of a second.
Iona Anderson just missed out on a medal in the women's 100m backstroke, swimming 56.08 as Regan Smith claimed a new championship record with 54.55, the third fastest time in history.
Isaac Cooper finished seventh in the men's 100m back in a time of 49.60 behind Russian Miron Lifintsev, who set a new junior world record as a neutral athlete.
The mixed 4 x 50m medley relay team of Cooper, Yong, Perkins and Meg Harris also finished fourth in 1:36.78.
