The Pan Pacific Swimming Championships is a long course swimming event first held in 1985.Queensland to host 2014 Pan Pacific Championships , published by Swimming Australia on 2012-05-11; retrieved 2012-05-11. 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. 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.

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 Second in the medal table Ref. 1 1985 Tokyo 15–18 August 2 1987 Brisbane 13–16 August 3 1989 Tokyo 17–20 August 4 1991 Edmonton 22–25 August For the Record: 1991 Pan Pacific Championships; result listing published by Swimming World Magazine, October 1991 edition, p.52-54. 5 1993 Kobe 12–15 August 6 1995 Atlanta 10–13 August 7 1997 Fukuoka 10–13 August 1997 Pan Pacific Championships page from the USA Swimming website (usaswimming.org); retrieved 2012-05-11. 8 1999 Sydney 22–29 August 1999 Pan Pacific Championships page from the USA Swimming website (usaswimming.org); retrieved 2012-05-11. 9 2002 Yokohama 24–29 August 2002 Pan Pacific Championships page from the USA Swimming website (usaswimming.org); retrieved 2012-05-11. 10 2006 Victoria 17–20 August 2006 Pan Pacs results page from Omega Timing. Retrieved 2012-05-11. 11 2010 Irvine 18–22 August 2010 Pan Pacs results page from Omega Timing. Retrieved 2012-05-11. 12 2014 Gold Coast 21–25 August 13 2018 Tokyo 9–13 August 14 2026 Irvine 12–15 August 15 2030 Brisbane TBA TBD TBD

Note: The 1995 and 1999 editions served as the swimming test events for the Olympic venues.

Medal table (1985–2026) All-time Pan Pacific Championships medal table (Updated after 2026 Championships)

Pan Pacific Championships Records

References