Ariarne Titmus and Lani Pallister are set for a thrilling showdown in the Women’s 800m Freestyle final on night eight at the Paris La Défense Arena.

Both swimmers have their sights set on Olympic glory. Ariarne Titmus aims to surpass her Tokyo 2020 silver medal, while Lani Pallister is eager for her first individual Olympic medal after her gold in the women’s 4x200m freestyle relay.

Ariarne and Lani will face formidable competition from World Record holder Katie Ledecky of the USA, who aims for her fourth consecutive gold in this event, a feat only achieved by Michael Phelps in swimming.

If Lani places on the podium, she will surpass her mother, Janelle Pallister’s (née Elford) achievements. Janelle was successful in the 800m event, claiming silver at the 1990 Auckland Commonwealth Games and placing sixth in the women’s final at the Seoul 1988 Olympics.

The Aussie duo will swim out of lanes three and six after Ariarne qualified third fastest in 8:19.87 and Lani in 8:20.21.

Olympic debutant Ella Ramsay (lane one) and Kaylee McKeown (lane one) will compete in the women’s 200m IM final. 

Kaylee, fresh off her Olympic record-breaking 100m and 200m backstroke swims, is chasing her fifth individual gold. 

Should she top the podium, she becomes the athlete with the most individual gold medals won by an Australian in Olympic history at a single Games. 

Twenty-year-old Ella Ramsay qualified eighth fastest (2:10.75) to make her first senior international final.

Matt Temple will compete out of lane one in the men’s 100m butterfly final. 

Touching the wall in 50.95s to qualify seventh fastest, he will be looking to secure his place on the podium. Matt will face tough competition from World Record holder and Olympic champion Caeleb Dressel (USA) and 2023 World Champion Maxime Grousset (France).

The final event of the evening is the 4x100m mixed medley relay. With the event making its debut in Tokyo, many nations are chasing their first Olympic medal in the event. Australia claimed bronze thanks to the prowess of Kaylee McKeown (backstroke), Zac Stubblety-Cook (breaststroke), Emma McKeon (butterfly), and Kyle Chalmers (freestyle).

Australia has secured lane five for the final with impressive swims from a near-identical Tokyo team in yesterday’s qualifying session, with Iona Anderson replacing Kaylee McKeown on the backstroke leg.

In more heats action, both Australia’s men’s and women’s teams have qualified for their respective 4x100m medley events. The men’s team qualified sixth fastest with Isaac Cooper (53.85s), Josh Yong (58.99s), Ben Armbruster (51.61s), and Kyle Chalmers (47.79s) racing home in 3:32.24.

Iona Anderson (58.67s), Ella Ramsay (1:06.79), Alexandria Perkins (56.59s) and Meg Harris (52.76s) in 3:53.37 have qualified first fastest for their final.

Australia hopes to go back-to-back and top the podium after claiming gold at Tokyo 2020.

Both medley relay finals will be contested on Monday.

In the women’s 50m freestyle, Shayna Jack and Meg Harris secured spots in the semi-final of the splash and dash with a speedy 24.38s for Shayna and 24.50s for Meg Harris. The pair look to earn their spot in the final and replicate Cam McEvoy’s gold medal performance in the men’s event.

Day eight finals promise to be a spectacular evening of swimming at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, with multiple gold medals up for grabs and historical milestones within reach.

Competition for finals will get underway at 4.30am AEST.

Sarah Dyce