Pan Pacific Swimming Championships

The Pan Pacific Swimming Championships is a long course swimming event first held in 1985.^[1] It was founded as an alternative to the European Championships, for those countries that could not swim in those championships, in a manner similar to the Four Continents Figure Skating Championships which provide a similar 'continental' championships for non-European nations.

The meet was founded by its four Charter nations's swimming federations: Swimming Australia (Australia), Swimming Canada (Canada), Japan Swimming Federation (Japan), and USA Swimming (United States). As part of the Charter, hosting of the meet is to rotate among these four nations, with the meet being held in Japan every other championship. Initially, the meet was open to all countries that border the Pacific Ocean, giving the meet its name. This since has been expanded/opened to include other non-European countries wishing to participate, such as Brazil and South Africa.

The meet is considered to be one of the toughest international swimming competitions outside the Olympic Games, World Championships and European Championships, due in part to the presence of swimming power-house nationals like the United States and Australia, the first and second most medals winners, respectively.

History

The meet was initially staged biennially (every odd year), to allow for an international championship-level meet in the non-Olympic and non-World Championships years.^[1] However, beginning with the 2002 championships, due to the changing of the World Championships from every four years (even year between Olympics) to every two years (every odd year), the meet is a quadrennial event, held in the even year between Summer Olympics.^[1]

Unlike the World Championships and Olympic Games, nations can enter as many people as they like in the preliminaries of each event (in most international meets, only two swimmers from each nation are permitted). However, only two swimmers per nation can qualify for the Championships' semi-finals and finals. Prior to FINA's creation of semi-finals in the late 1990s, a total of 3 swimmers per country could qualify for the final and consolation heats of an event, with no more than 2 swimmers per country in a final or consolation.

List of championships

Edition	Year	Host City	Host Country	Dates	Medal table winners
1	1985	Tokyo	Japan	15–18 August	United States
2	1987	Brisbane	Australia	13–16 August	United States
3	1989	Tokyo	Japan	17–20 August	United States
4	1991	Edmonton	Canada	22–25 August^[2]	United States
5	1993	Kobe	Japan	12–15 August	United States
6	1995	Atlanta	United States	10–13 August	United States
7	1997	Fukuoka	Japan	10–13 August^[3]	United States
8	1999	Sydney	Australia	22–29 August^[4]	United States
9	2002	Yokohama	Japan	24–29 August^[5]	United States
10	2006	Victoria	Canada	17–20 August^[6]	United States
11	2010	Irvine	United States	18–22 August^[7]	United States
12	2014	Gold Coast	Australia	21–25 August^[1]	United States
13	2018	Tokyo	Japan	9–13 August	United States
14	2026	TBD	United States	TBA

Note: The 1995 and 1999 editions served as the swimming test events for the Olympic venues, for the next year's Games.

Medal table (1985–2018)

All-time Pan Pacific Championships medal table (Updated after 2018 Championships)

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	United States	277	192	140	609
2	Australia	98	136	107	341
3	Japan	31	49	73	153
4	Canada	18	45	74	137
5	China	5	10	12	27
6	South Africa	5	5	6	16
7	New Zealand	4	6	16	26
8	South Korea	4	2	1	7
9	Brazil	3	4	9	16
10	Costa Rica	3	2	4	9
11	Puerto Rico	1	0	1	2
12	Suriname	1	0	0	1
13	Venezuela	0	1	0	1
14	Chile	0	0	1	1
Totals (14 entries)		450	452	444	1346

Records

Main article: List of Pan Pacific Championships records in swimming

Junior Pan Pacific Swimming Championships

The Junior Pan Pacific Swimming Championships, aka Junior Pan PAC’s, is a long course swimming event that features high level 18 under swimmers around the Pacific. The event is held every other even year, and takes place in the non-world championship/junior championship years. The event was last held in 2018, with others postponed or canceled due to the global COVID-19 pandemic; future events have been postponed until after 2022.^[8]

List of championships

Junior Pan Pacific Swimming Championships:^[9][10]

Edition	Year	Host	Venue	Host Country	Dates	Medal table winners
1	2005	Maui	Kihei Aquatic Center	United States	6–9 January^[11]	United States
2	2007	Maui	Kihei Aquatic Center	United States	11–14 January^[12]	United States
3	2009	Guam		Guam	8–11 January^[13]	United States
4	2010	Maui	Kihei Aquatic Center	United States	26–30 August^[14]	United States
5	2012	Honolulu	Veterans Memorial Aquatic Center	United States	23–27 August^[15]	United States
6	2014	Maui	Kihei Aquatic Center, Ulua Beach	United States	27–31 August^[16]	United States
7	2016	Maui	Lahaina Aquatic Center	United States	24–27 August^[17]	United States
8	2018	Suva	Damodar Aquatic Centre	Fiji	23–26 August^[18]	United States
9	2022	Honolulu	Veterans Memorial Aquatic Center	United States	24–27 August^[19]	United States
10	2024	Canberra	AIS Aquatic Centre	Australia	21–24 August^[20]

References

1. Queensland to host 2014 Pan Pacific Championships May 11, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, published by Swimming Australia on 2012-05-11; retrieved 2012-05-11.
2. For the Record: 1991 Pan Pacific Championships; result listing published by Swimming World Magazine, October 1991 edition, p.52-54.
3. 1997 Pan Pacific Championships page from the USA Swimming website (usaswimming.org); retrieved 2012-05-11.
4. 1999 Pan Pacific Championships page from the USA Swimming website (usaswimming.org); retrieved 2012-05-11.
5. 2002 Pan Pacific Championships December 19, 2014, at the Wayback Machine page from the USA Swimming website (usaswimming.org); retrieved 2012-05-11.
6. 2006 Pan Pacs results page September 2, 2011, at the Wayback Machine from Omega Timing. Retrieved 2012-05-11.
7. 2010 Pan Pacs results page September 2, 2011, at the Wayback Machine from Omega Timing. Retrieved 2012-05-11.
8. Andy Ross (May 28, 2020). "2022 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships Deferred to 2026, Canada to Remain Host". Swimming World News. Retrieved December 12, 2020.
9. "Junior Pan Pacific Championships Results".
10. "Swimrankings - Swimming Rankings and Results - Worldwide, International Swim Sport".
11. "2005 Jr Pan Pacs Top 8, full meet – Meet Results". Swimming World. Retrieved August 13, 2021.
12. "2007 Jr Pan Pacific Swimming Championships – Meet Results". Swimming World. Retrieved August 13, 2021.
13. "2009 Junior Pan Pacific Championships – Meet Results". Swimming World. Retrieved August 13, 2021.
14. "2010 Junior Pan Pacific Championships – Meet Results". Swimming World. Retrieved August 13, 2021.
15. "Junior Pan Pacific Championship, August 23-27, 2012". Swimming World. November 27, 2012. Retrieved August 13, 2021.
16. Marsteller, Jason (August 13, 2014). "USA Swimming Releases Loaded Junior Pan Pacific Championships Roster". Swimming World. Retrieved August 13, 2021.
17. "2016 Jr Pan Pacific Swimming Championships: Results". swmeets.com. 27 August 2016. Retrieved 21 August 2022.
18. "2018 Junior Pan Pacific Swimming Championships" (PDF). SwimSwam. Retrieved August 13, 2021.
19. "Charter Nations Announce Addition of Junior Pan Pacific Swimming Championships to 2022 International Events Calendar". USA Swimming. 15 March 2022. Retrieved 15 March 2022.
20. "Swimming Australia - Junior Pan Pacific Championships heading to Canberra". Swimming Australia. Retrieved September 30, 2023. AIS