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Irvine to Host 2026 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships

USA Swimming announced last month that Irvine will host the 2026 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships.

The event is one of three major sporting competitions coming to Southern California in 2026 and 2028 – the other two being matches of the 2026 World Cup and 2028 Summer Olympic Games. The Pan Pacific Championships, held every four years, rotate between the four charter nations: the U.S., Canada, Japan and Australia.

The four charter nations decided in 2023 to bring the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships to Orange County in anticipation of Southern California hosting the Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2028.

The 2026 edition of the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships returns to the U.S. for the first time since 2010, when it was also held in Irvine. It would also be the third time the United States hosts the non-European championship event – the first one was held in Atlanta in 1995, ahead of the 1996 Summer Olympic Games.

A long form swimming championship organized in the 1980s as an alternative to the European Championships, the Pan Pacific Swimming event will be held next year for the first time since 2018, when swimmers competed in Tokyo.

Organizers announced the competition, which pits the best swimmers from countries that border the Pacific Ocean, would be held Aug. 12-15, 2026. (Countries not bordering the Pacific Ocean, such as Brazil and South Africa, were later allowed to compete.)

Also to be featured at the 2026 event: the 10K Open Water Championships. The date and venue for the Open Water event will be announced later, per USA Swimming.

Famed Irvine Aquatics Complex to Host the Event

Swimmers will compete at the William Woolett Aquatics Center, located at Irvine’s Heritage Park Aquatics Complex. The aquatics center, home to two 50-meter pools, is at the center of the swimming universe in Orange County. It previously hosted the 2010 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships and USA Swimming’s National Championships in 2005, 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018 and 2022.

The Nationals, as the event is also called, was also held in Mission Viejo in 1977, 1980, 1985 and 1992.

The Pan Pacific Swimming Championships were first held Aug. 15-18 in Tokyo and returned every other year until 1999. The ninth iteration of the event skipped 2001 and was held in Yokohama, Japan, Aug. 24-29, 2002.

The championships have since shifted to being held every four years: 2006 in Victoria, Canada, 2010 in Irvine, 2014 in Gold Coast, Australia, and 2018 in Tokyo.

Organizers skipped the competition in 2022, originally scheduled to be held in Canada, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Other cities to host the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships were Brisbane, Australia (1987), Edmonton, Canada (1991), Kobe, Japan (1993), Atlanta (1995), Fukuoka, Japan (1997) and Sydney (1999).

The United States leads all countries in medal count, with 609 wins since 1985, including 277 gold, 192 silver and 140 bronze. Australia is second with 341 total medals (98 gold, 136 silver and 107 bronze).

Other medalists, in order, are Japan (153 total), Canada (137), China (27), New Zealand (26), Brazil (16), South Africa (160), Costa Rica (9), South Korea (7), Puerto Rico (2), Chile (1), Suriname (1) and Venezuela (1).

Editor’s note: The Sports column, debuting this week in the Business Journal, is focused on sports business news in Orange County. It will appear occasionally. Please send tips to Parimal Rohit at rohit@ocbj.com.

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Sonia Chung
Sonia Chung
Sonia Chung joined the Orange County Business Journal in 2021 as their Marketing Creative Director. In her role she creates all visual content as it relates to the marketing needs for the sales and events teams. Her responsibilities include the creation of marketing materials for six annual corporate events, weekly print advertisements, sales flyers in correspondence to the editorial calendar, social media graphics, PowerPoint presentation decks, e-blasts, and maintains the online presence for Orange County Business Journal’s corporate events.
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