{"id":620290,"date":"2025-08-04T17:24:07","date_gmt":"2025-08-05T00:24:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=620290"},"modified":"2025-08-04T17:24:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-05T00:24:07","slug":"american-swimmers-have-two-chances-left-to-secure-roster-spots-for-2026-pan-pacs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/american-swimmers-have-two-chances-left-to-secure-roster-spots-for-2026-pan-pacs\/","title":{"rendered":"American Swimmers Have Two Chances Left to Secure Roster Spots for 2026 Pan Pacs"},"content":{"rendered":"

American Swimmers Have Two Chances Left to Secure Roster Spots for 2026 Pan Pacs<\/strong><\/p>\n

USA Swimming will not hold a selection meet in 2026, instead naming the team for the 2026 Pan Pacific Championships<\/a> based on the results of this summer’s major competitions. Times from finals at U.S. Nationals, the World University Games, World Championships<\/a>, TYR Pro Championships and World Junior Championships will be considered for selection.<\/p>\n

Those procedures put swimmers on the Worlds team in pole position for those Pan Pacs slots while giving those who did not perform as well at Nationals or skipped the meet another chance. Indeed, a handful of swimmers competing in Germany at the World University Games jumped Singapore swimmers in the priority order.<\/p>\n

This week will see big-name swimmers such as\u00a0Caeleb Dressel<\/strong><\/a>, Hunter Armstrong\u00a0<\/strong>and Kieran Smith<\/strong>\u00a0trying to qualify for Pan Pacs when they compete at the TYR Pro Championships<\/a>, to be held in the same pool in Irvine, Calif., that will host the international event next August. Dressel, Armstrong and others will aim to surpass times from earlier meets to effectively steal roster spots from swimmers currently in position<\/p>\n

Notably, the selection priorities for Pan Pacs are different than for most other international competitions. As usual, the top swimmer in each event plus the top-four in the 100 and 200 free have top priority, followed by the second-place swimmers in remaining events. The next priority is the fifth-place swimmer in the 100 and 200 free, but the No. 6 swimmers will not be considered for selection. Instead, any open roster spots up to the maximum of 26 per gender will go to third-place swimmers in other events; if that still doesn’t fill the team, USA Swimming will take some fourth-place times as well.<\/p>\n

As constituted right now, the men’s team is completely full with 26 swimmers with only two swimmers per event plus the minimum four relay swimmers in the 100 and 200. The women, on the other hand, will have plenty of room for third-place swimmers, with at least six or seven likely to get nods for the international duty next year.<\/p>\n

Here are the current projected times in each event, which means second place outside of the 100 and 200 free. Note that this analysis assumes the now-retired Lilly King<\/strong> will decline her spot. Events listed in\u00a0bold<\/strong> have seen swimmers from the World University Games roster surpass times posted by at least one Worlds team member.<\/p>\n

Men’s Team<\/strong><\/p>\n