The 2024 Pan Pacific Championships kicked off this week in Irvine, California, delivering a series of thrilling races, unexpected upsets, and record-breaking performances that kept swimming fans on the edge of their seats Thursday night. Leading the night of competition was 19-year-old Canadian swimming phenom Summer McIntosh, who claimed gold in the women’s 400-meter individual medley in dominant fashion, bouncing back quickly from a silver medal finish in the opening night’s 200-meter freestyle event.
McIntosh held the lead from the opening stroke of the four-stroke race, and early on she even dipped briefly below her own existing world record pace, a testament to her world-class speed and conditioning. Entering the eight-woman outdoor final as the second-fastest qualifier, she crossed the touchpad in 4 minutes 28.01 seconds, setting a new Pan Pacific Championships event record. The result marked a strong redemptive performance for McIntosh, who had openly expressed disappointment with her result just one night earlier, when Australia’s Lani Pallister edged her out for gold in the 200m freestyle.
Australia’s Jenna Forrester took silver in the 400m IM with a time of 4:31.50, while 18-year-old Argentine Agostina Hein rounded out the podium to take bronze. Hein entered the final as the top qualifier from the preliminary heats, holding onto her strong form to secure a spot on the medals stand.
One of the night’s biggest upsets came in the women’s 100-meter freestyle, where Australia’s Meg Harris claimed an unexpected gold medal starting from the outside sixth lane. Harris touched the wall in 52.60 seconds, beating out American rising star Gretchen Walsh, who finished just 0.18 seconds behind in 52.77. Walsh had actually held a 0.01 second lead under world record pace at the 50-meter turn, but couldn’t hold off Harris’s strong finishing sprint. Australia’s Olivia Wunsch took third, while 2016 Rio Olympic gold medalist Simone Manuel of the United States finished just off the podium in fourth place.
The U.S. men’s team claimed the top two spots on the podium in the men’s 100-meter freestyle. Jack Alexy took gold, clocking a new championship record of 47.14 seconds, shaving 0.26 seconds off the event record he had already set in the preliminary heats earlier in the day. His teammate Patrick Sammon took silver with a time of 47.62, while Brazil’s Guilherme Caribe earned bronze.
In the women’s 100-meter breaststroke, American McKenzie Siroky claimed her first ever career international gold medal, outtouching China’s Tang Qianting in a tight final sprint. Siroky finished in 1:05.32, just 0.14 seconds ahead of Tang’s 1:05.46 to take the top spot on the podium.
The final featured race of the night, the men’s 400-meter individual medley, delivered a historic result: Japan’s Tomoyuki Matsushita took gold in 4:06.75, erasing the 14-year-old Pan Pacific Championships record set by American swimming legend Ryan Lochte back at the 2010 Pan Pacific Championships, which were also hosted in Irvine. American Carson Foster took silver, and Matsushita expressed his joy at the historic win in post-race comments, saying through a translator, “Next time I come back to the U.S. I’m going to get gold again.”
The four-day international swimming competition continues through the weekend, with more top swimmers from across the globe set to compete for championship titles and medals.