After an exciting finals session last night, the 2026 Pan Pacific Championships roll on with Day 2 action from Irvine kicking off this morning with preliminary heats across four events for both men and women. The session opens with the women’s 400 IM, where world record holder and reigning Olympic and world champion Summer McIntosh headlines the field coming off a relatively disappointing silver medal finish last night in the 200 free. McIntosh will race alongside Australia’s Jenna Forrester, a two-time World Championship medalist in the 400 IM, in the last heat, along with Japan’s Mio Narita, who tied Forrester for silver last summer at Worlds, and American Alex Walsh. Katie Grimes, who won silver behind McIntosh in the 400 IM at the 2022 Worlds, 2023 Worlds and 2024 Olympics, highlights the first circle-seeded heat, alongside Paris bronze medalist Emma Weyant. The men’s race features Tomoyuki Matsushita and Carson Foster, the silver and bronze medalist from the Paris Olympics, who rank 2-3 in the world this season. Matsushita notably set a new best time of 4:06.93 in March. The 100 freestyle races will surely be the most exciting of the morning given how many Americans will be vying for the two ‘A’ final spots, though the women’s race won’t have Kate Douglass, who split a blistering 51.01 anchoring the U.S. to a world record in the mixed medley relay last night. Gretchen Walsh, Torri Huske, Simone Manuel and Rylee Erisman will be the primary contenders for the U.S. spots in the ‘A’ final, while Australia’s Meg Harris promises to be a factor come tonight when the medals are decided. The men’s 100 free could be an even bigger dog fight between the Americans, with national record holder Jack Alexy set to his make his meet debut and Chris Guiliano, Patrick Sammon, Henry McFadden and Destin Lasco all expected to make a push for a sub-48 swim this morning. One major threat come the final will be Brazil’s Gui Caribe, who showed good form on Day 1 with a bronze in the 50 fly. In the 100 breast, Douglass comes in as the top seed, though China’s Tang Qianting, the 2024 world champion and Paris Olympic silver medalist, should be a factor for gold in the evening session. The men’s race should be interesting after Van Mathias’ blistering 57.30 split last night on the mixed medley relay, while fellow American Campbell McKean will be looking to get back under 59 seconds after he did it last year and Japan’s Shin Ohashi comes in riding some momentum after setting a new World Junior Record in March (58.67). However, last night in the mixed medley relay, Mathias was nearly a full second quicker than Ohashi (58.24). Closing out with the 50 back, Katharine Berkoff is the favorite in the women’s race after upsetting Regan Smith last night in the 100, and those two should be able to move through with the two U.S. slots in the ‘A’ final. The men’s 50 back will see the likes of Shaine Casas, Will Modglin, Quintin McCarty, Michael Andrew, Daniel Diehl and Jack Aikins duking it out for the two U.S. spots in the big final. McCarty is the fastest swimmer this season among the group, having been 24.45 in June, while Casas was 24.53 earlier this season in December. The women’s 400 IM results in the top five qualifiers for tonight’s ‘A’ final being separated by less than seven-tenths of a second, and it’s Argentina’s Agostina Hein leading the way. Hein, 18, has reset numerous Argentine Records in the freestyle events so far this year, and her good form continued this morning as she pulled even with Katie Grimes during the breast leg and then inched ahead on free to win Heat 2 in a time of 4:35.43, just ahead of Grimes’ 4:35.70. Hein’s national record in the 400 IM stands at 4:34.34, set last year, but her swim this morning improved on her season-best of 4:35.62 from the Mare Nostrum Tour. Grimes went 4:33.26 at the U.S. Nationals in this pool just a few weeks ago, which ranks her 4th in the world this season. American Emma Weyant was 3rd in the heat in a time of 4:37.04, putting her at risk of losing an ‘A’ final spot if Alex Walsh managed to go faster in the following heat. In the third and final heat, Summer McIntosh and Jenna Forrester traded the lead back and forth a few times, and after it looked like McIntosh had done enough to touch first coming home on free, Forrester made a late push to claim the heat in a time of 4:35.45, qualifying 2nd overall to the final while McIntosh advanced in 3rd in 4:35.56. Forrester is coming off winning the Commonwealth Games title in late July in a personal best time of 4:31.19. Walsh used a very impressive back half to move up on Forrester and McIntosh, almost pulling even with them before clocking 4:36.11 to finish 3rd in the heat and claim the second U.S. spot in the ‘A’ final, bumping out Weyant. Walsh, who went 4:41.82 in the 400 IM during a time trial at Nationals a few weeks ago, has been as fast as 4:35.25 this season, done at the Sette Colli Trophy in June. The men’s 400 IM each had a national trials feel as three Japanese men fought it out for two spots in the ‘A’ final in the opening heat, and then three Americans did the same in the next heat. In Heat 1, Olympic silver medalist Tomoyuki Matsushita put on an impressive display, opening up a sizeable lead on his countrymen through the 300 before cruising to victory in a time of 4:07.61, just two one-hundredths shy of Ryan Lochte’s meet record from 2010. In the battle for the #2 Japanese spot in the ‘A’ final, there was nothing between Yumeki Kojima and Asaki Nishikawa, as both blitzed home with a pair of 27-mid closing splits and touched in an identical time of 4:08.69, meaning the Japanese coaches will have to decide if there will be a swim-off or if they’ll decide who moves on to the ‘A’ final in another way. For Kojima, 17, his time lowers his own World Junior Record of 4:08.84, set this past March at the Japanese Championships. Nishikawa, who turned 20 last month, owns a personal best time of 4:07.67 from November, which ranks him 4th in the world this season. In the following heat, Carson Foster, who ranks 3rd in the world with his 4:07.02 swim from December, did what he needed to do to safely advance, holding off Bobby Finke coming home to touch first in a time of 4:11.55. Finke was next up in 4:12.17, comfortably ahead of Rex Maurer (4:13.76) to earn the second U.S. spot in the final. Lewis Clareburt, who won the Commonwealth title last month in 4:08.19, cruised to a time of 4:13.33 to easily advance, and he’ll be in the hunt for a medal in tonight’s final. Since only one of Kojima and Nishikawa can make the ‘A’ final, 10th-place Tristan Jankovics (4:15.87) will swim in the championship heat alongside Canadian teammate Lorne Wigginton (4:14.23). Gretchen Walsh looked phenomenal in the heats of the women’s 100 free, using her dynamite start and front-end speed to open up a big lead early in the final heat, turning in a sizzling 24.97, and then powering home to clock the fastest time of the morning in 52.57. The swim improves on Walsh’s personal best of 52.75, set a few weeks ago during a time trial at U.S. Nationals. Walsh was followed in the heat by Simone Manuel, who used a strong back half to clock 53.08 and snag the second American spot in tonight’s ‘A’ final, bumping out Torri Huske (53.26). Australia’s Meg Harris put up a time of 53.17 to win the first circle-seeded heat, while her teammate Olivia Wunsch stepped up with a big swim of 53.08 to win the penultimate heat. The swim from Wunsch improves on her two-year-old personal best time of 53.17, slotting her into the ‘A’ final in a tie for 2nd overall alongside Manuel. Behind Wunsch in Heat 5, Huske and Rylee Erisman (53.37) had decent swims, but not enough to crack the ‘A’ final and both will swim out of the consols tonight. Both have been faster this season: Erisman was 52.92 at U.S. Nationals last month, while Huske went 53.05 at the Indianapolis Pro Swim in June. Due to the amount of Americans and Aussies near the top of the rankings in the event, we had to go all the way down to 16th place, a tie between China’s Fan Yaqi and New Zealand’s Chelsea Edwards, for the last spot in the ‘A’ final, due to the two-per-country rule. Fan and Edwards’ tie at 54.66 means we may see a swim-off. The men’s 100 freestyle saw Jack Alexy and Patrick Sammon step onto the blocks for the last heat and knew they needed to be better than 47.64 to secure themselves a lane in the ‘A’ final, and both delivered. Chris Guiliano got it started for the American men in the first circle-seeded heat, torching the field in a time of 47.64 to break Cameron McEvoy’s Pan Pac Championship Record and put himself in a strong position to advance to the ‘A’ final. Destin Lasco followed up with an impressive swim in the next heat, clocking 47.66 to finish just eight one-hundredths shy of his 47.58 personal best set last year. Then, it was Alexy and Sammon going head-to-head in the last heat, knowing they needed to be firing on all cylinders to earn a lane in the big heat. Alexy got out to a fast start, turning in 22.59, and then Sammon charged home with the quickest back half in the field (24.43), nearly running down Alexy as they touched 1-2 in respective times of 47.40 and 47.49. That knocked Guiliano and Lasco, the 3rd and 4th-fastest swimmers of the session, out of the ‘A’ final due to the two-per-country rule. Guiliano is the fastest American this season at 47.38, while Alexy has been 47.40. Sammon’s swim this morning was his fastest of the season and just two one-hundredths off his personal best. No one else in the field was sub-48, with Brazil’s Gui Caribe claiming 5th overall and the 3rd seed for the ‘A’ final in 48.16. Australians Jamie Jack and Harrison Turner, who both own best times in the 48.2 range, produced matching times of 48.38 to advance to the ‘A’ final, leaving countrymen Kai Taylor (48.41) and Edward Sommerville (48.42) on the outside looking in. Just like the women’s event, we had to go all the way down to the 16th-fastest swimmer in the prelims, Japan’s Tatsuya Murasa, to find the final spot for the ‘A’ final due to the two-per-country rule. In the women’s 100 breast, Tang Qianting, Satomi Suzuki and Kate Douglass all defended Lane 4 in the prelims of the women’s 100 breast, winning their respective heats to comfortably advance to the final. Tang put up a time of 1:05.80 from the opening heat, which stood up as the fastest overall and is within a half-second of her 1:05.36 season-best that ranks her #2 in the world. Japan’s Suzuki topped the following heat in a time of 1:06.30 to claim the 4th seed for the final. The 35-year-old ranks 4th in the world this season with her personal best time of 1:05.53 from last September. Douglass and American teammate McKenzie Siroky went head-to-head in the third and final heat, a rematch of sorts after Siroky got the better of Douglass a few weeks ago in the U.S. National final. Douglass clipped her at the wall—a reversal of what happened at Nationals—1:06.10 to 1:06.27 as they both moved through to the final. At Nationals, Siroky set a personal best of 1:05.64, while Douglass established her current season-best of 1:05.66. Canadian Sophie Angus notably hit a lifetime best of 1:06.38 to qualify in 5th, while Emma Weber (1:06.65) was victim of the two-per-country rule and will swim in the consolation final tonight. In the men’s 100 breast, Van Mathias, Shin Ohashi and Josh Matheny all defended Lane 4 in the prelims of the men’s 100 breast, winning their respective heats to comfortably advance to the final. Van Mathias put up a time of 58.61 CR, Shin Ohashi touched in 58.85 and Josh Matheny clocked 59.23. In the women’s 50 backstroke, Katharine Berkoff is the favorite in the women’s race after upsetting Regan Smith last night in the 100, and those two should be able to move through with the two U.S. slots in the ‘A’ final. The men’s 50 backstroke will see the likes of Shaine Casas, Will Modglin, Quintin McCarty, Michael Andrew, Daniel Diehl and Jack Aikins duking it out for the two U.S. spots in the big final. McCarty is the fastest swimmer this season among the group, having been 24.45 in June, while Casas was 24.53 earlier this season in December.
