Dawn Weatherwax - (Author)

UCLA Hires James Robinson-O’Brien as Women’s Water Polo Head Coach UCLA on Tuesday announced the hiring of James Robinson-O’Brien as the head coach of its women’s water polo team. Monday, UCLA had publicized two additions to the men’s water polo coaching staff. That is the staff of head coach Adam W...

‘Chef’s Kiss’ Swims from Skyler Smith Vault Late Bloomer Up World Rankings Skyler Smith admits that she wears her heart on her sleeve. Around the fourth “super” of her interview Friday morning at the Woollett Aquatic Center, that explanation became redundant. Smith was stoked. She had just set the s...

‘It’s Nuts:’ Kate Douglass 50 Free World Record Marks Staggering Progress Kate Douglass wasn’t fully sure what her eyes were telling her Saturday night. The scoreboard at Irvine’s Woollett Aquatic Center was saying 23.19 seconds in the 50 freestyle at the Pan Pacific Championships. But that’s not a ...

DMs and Elevator Texts: Pan Pacs Swimmers React to Johannes Liebmann World Record Bobby Finke was done shaving Saturday morning ahead of the final day of the Pan Pacific Championships when he opened Instagram. He was confused as to why he had a slew of DMs, most of them from people he didn’t now. Th...

Pan Pacific Championships, Night Four Finals: Sam Short Sets Aussie Record in 1500 Long before the swimmers stepped to the blocks in the men’s 1,500 freestyle at the Pan Pacific Championships, the best mile of the day had been swum Saturday. That swim came Saturday morning, at the European Champions...

FLASH! Kate Douglass Lowers World Record in 50 Free to 23.19 A world record still ringing in the air Saturday morning, Kate Douglass made sure not to start her warm down until after Gretchen Walsh was done swimming her 50 free. Darn the double for which Douglass had to clear lactic acid – Douglass h...

Pan Pacific Championships, Day Four Prelims: William Petric, Jamie Jack Start Strong for Aussies It’s been a strong meet for the Australians this week in Irvine. And they’re looking to finish out with more Pan Pacifics gold. William Petric and Jamie Jack took home top seeds in the 200 individual med...

Kate Douglass Sets 100 Free American Record with ‘Huge Props’ to Steenbergen, Moesch The world record in the women’s 100 freestyle hadn’t moved since 2017. The American mark hadn’t budged since 2019. When others started the wheels of history back in progress, Kate Douglass wanted in. And she very ne...

Pan Pacific Championships, Night Three Finals: Tang Qianting Gets China on Board with 50 Breast Gold As the holder of the top three times in the world in 2026 entering this meet, no one would’ve been shocked to see Tang Qianting on the top step of the podium at the Pan Pacific Championships. The Asi...

‘Lesson’s Learned’ for Summer McIntosh After 400 Free Final Miss Summer McIntosh didn’t account for everyone in the pool Friday morning. As a result, the world-record holder in the 400 freestyle ended up in the B final at the Pan Pacific Championships. It’s a lesson learned, a contrite McIntosh said...

Pan Pacific Championships, Night Three Finals: Matthew Temple, Ben Armbruster 1-2 in 100 Fly The summer has been good to Australian butterfliers. All three medalists at the Commonwealth Games in the 50 were Aussies. They took both minor medals in the 100 and 200. Two of them belonged to Ben Armbrust...

Pan Pacific Championships, Day Three Prelims: Van Mathias Chasing 50 Breast Crown Fresh off his win in the 100 breaststroke and near miss of his American record, Van Mathias will be in the pool again on Friday morning at the Pan Pacific Championships in the 50 breast. Mathias was the top seed in the...

Pan Pacs: After PB, Gretchen Walsh ‘Might Like’ 100 Free Again It’s unusual, given Gretchen Walsh’s all-conquering abilities in the sprints, to hear the American express her shortcomings in an event. But the 100 freestyle is that for the former Virginia superstar. Or, maybe she hopes, it was. Walsh ...

Pan Pacific Championships, Night Two Finals: Van Mathias .01 off AR in 100 Breast The 100 is Van Mathias’ world, and everyone else is just breaststroking in it. Not bad for an event he maintains wasn't a priority at the beginning of the year. Mathias went 58.02 on Thursday night to win gold at the P...

Pan Pacific Championships, Night Two Finals: Women's 100 free For not the first time in this Olympic quad, a women’s race broke cleanly along American vs. Australian lines. In the sprint freestyle, it’s advantage Aussies this time around. Meg Harris picked up the win in 52.60 seconds, outtouching Gr...

Florent Manaudou Confirms Retirement from Swimming Florent Manaudou, one of the sport’s great sprinters and one of France’s all-time greatest swimmers, has confirmed his retirement from the sport. Manaudou, 35, hasn’t competed since the 2024 Olympics in Paris, in which he won bronze in the 50 freest...

Pan Pacific Championships: Asaki Nishikawa, Fan Yaqi Win Swim-Offs The second morning of preliminaries at the Pan Pacific Championships included not one but two swim-offs, with Japan’s Asaki Nishikawa and Fan Yaqi of China securing A final spots. Nishikawa broke a tie with countryman Yumeki Kojima f...

Pan Pacific Championships, Day Two Men’s Prelims: Tomoyuki Matsushita Scares 400 IM Meet Record Tomoyuki Matsushita started the morning strong at the Pan Pacific Championships Thursday, nearly taking down the meet record in the 400 individual medley. Matsushita went 4:07.61, which is .02 off the com...

Pan Pacific Championships Night One Finals: Sam Short Adds 800 Free Gold Sam Short is putting together another outstanding summer. He added to it with one more gold medal Wednesday night. Short went 7:37.02 Wednesday night to win the men’s 800 free at the Pan Pacific Championships in Irvine, Califor...

Pan Pacific Championships Night One Finals: Luke Hobson Holds off Gabriel Jett in 200 Free Luke Hobson looked amazing early. Gabriel Jett closed like crazy. In between, the U.S. has two pretty impressive swims in the men’s 200 free. Hobson just held off Jett by .11 seconds to win gold on the first n...