Redux in Marine Stadium for the 2026 Pan Pacific Championships

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The 2026 Pan Pacific Championships 10 km races are returning to Long Beach.

Back in 2010 in the last domestic race featuring Fran Crippen, the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships were held in Marine Stadium in Long Beach, California.

Crippen had won an earlier match-up against Chip Peterson, Andrew Gemmell and Alex Meyer at the USA Swimming National Open Water Swimming Championship 10 km race on the same course (see video below), but Peterson edged Crippen at the 2010 Pan Pacific Championships a month later while Christine Jennings won the women’s 10 km race.

2026 Pan Pacific Championships 10 km

Team American will have another opportunity to defend its home turf at the 2026 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships 10 km race, also held in Marine Stadium on August 10th.

On the women’s side, Americans Mariah Denigan, Brinkleigh Hansen, Becca Mann, and mother-of-two Ashley Twichell will face a pair of formidable competitors: Moesha Johnson (28, Australia, World Aquatics bio here, @swimmer_moesha) and Ichika Kajimoto (21, Japan, World Aquatics bio here, @chika_0307). Other competitors expected in the lead pack may include Airi Ebina of Japan and Tayla Martin of Australia.

On the men’s side, Americans should be right in the mix with their Australian and Canadian competitors. Ivan Puskovitch, Joey Tepper, Dylan Gravley, and Joshua Brown will be in the lead pack with a number of potential rivals (to be announced later) that may include Nicholas Sloman, Bailey Armstrong, Kyle Lee, and/or Thomas Raymond of Australia and Paulo Strehlke Delgado (19, Mexico, World Aquatics bio here, @paulostrehlke).

There are no fees to watch the races on August 10th at Marine Stadium – that will be the site of the rowing competition at the LA28 Olympic Games. The pool competition takes place in Irvine, California, at the William Woollett Jr. Aquatics Center between August 12th and 15th, headlined by the top swimmers from the four Charter Nations: USA, Australia, Canada, and Japan, but also including top swimmers from non-European countries.

Global Competition

Unlike the pool competition at the Pan Pacific Championships, which is restricted to non-European countries, the 10 km open water race is open to all federations, including those from Europe (LEN countries). This means top-tier marathon swimmers from around the world may appear on the final entry list, but since the LA28 Olympic 10 km open water swim will be held in a different course in Long Beach, the likelihood of European swimmers competing is quite small.

2010 Pan Pacific Championships 10 km Course