The Pan Pacific Swimming Championships started in Tokyo in 1985 with Swimming Australia, Swimming Canada, the Japan Amateur Swimming Federation ,and USA Swimming as its founding charter nations.
Sandwiched between the Olympic Games and the World Aquatics World Championships, the “Pan Pacs” is one of the world’s fastest and most competitive swimming competitions. The host nation takes responsibility for organizing all aspects of the Championships including issuing all invitations to other national swimming federations.
The format includes one day of open water swimming and four days of pool swimming. The 2026 competition will be held in Southern California. The pool events will be held at the William Woollett, Jr. Aquatics Center in Irvine between August 12th and 15th. The 10 km open water competition will be held in Long Beach on August 10th.
The open water competition is open to invited non-European (non-LEN) federations. For the 2026 Pan Pacific 10 km open water race, the Charter Nations also decided that the open water competition will also be open to all European nations if they wish to attend, to a maximum of 2 swimmers per event (i.e., 2 men and 2 women).
According to planning documents, USA Swimming will attempt to host the 10 km open water competition at the same LA28 Olympic open water venue at Belmont Shore in Long Beach. The August 10th races should offer similar conditions (air and water temperatures) of the July 17th and 18th 2028 Olympic races.
“Because the Charter Nations decided to open up the 10 km race to the European swimmers, this also gives the European swimmers an opportunity to race on the LA28 Olympic course,” said Steven Munatones. “Because several of the top European 10 km swimmers are also among the fastest 800m and 1500m pool swimmers, the format of the Pan Pacific Championships offers them a unique opportunity to not only race on the LA28 10 km course, but also follow up the open water race with some fast swimming in the 800m and 1500m races in the pool against the fastest Australians, Canadians, Americans, and Japanese. This event could be a very interesting precursor to what may happen in LA28 – both in the pool and open water. If the European distance freestylers are allowed to and also enter the pool races at the Pan Pacs.”
If so, we anticipate many Olympic open water swimmers – and those who dream of competing in the LA28 races – to participate in the 2026 Pan Pacific Championships. With very few opportunities to train and race on the actual Olympic course, the 2026 Pan Pacific Championships offer the first chance to do so.
The Belmont Veterans Memorial Pier – the anticipated start and finish to the 2026 Pan Pacific Championships and LA28 Olympic open water swims – is shown above.
© 2025 Daily News of Open Water Swimming
“to educate, enthuse, and entertain all those who venture beyond the shoreline“
World Open Water Swimming Federation, a human-powered project