Pan Pacs Format Will Have U.S. Swimmers on Alert During Morning Prelims
The preliminaries at the Pan Pacific Championships won’t take long to complete, thanks to smaller-sized fields for next week’s competition. Some events will only have two heats during the morning session, but the stakes will be high due to the unique guidelines utilized by the competition, which will be held for the first time since Tokyo served as the host in 2018.
The Pan Pacs rules limit each country to advancing just two swimmers to each championship final, which means athletes for nations like the United States – with the greatest depth – have less margin for error during prelims. Rather than ease into the final, which some individuals can do at other major meets, there will be instances at Pan Pacs where full-blast effort is required in prelims. The two-per-nation rule was instituted to ensure greater country representation.
Take the men’s 50-meter butterfly as an example. Of the top eight seeds, five are from the United States, including the top-three entries – Michael Andrew, Dare Rose and Van Mathias. Meanwhile, Shaine Casas is the seventh seed and Santo Condorelli is slotted eighth. With only two berths to the final available to Team USA, each of those individuals will have to treat their heat like it is a championship final.
In the men’s 100 backstroke, Americans occupy the top-four seeds. While Will Modglin tops the entry list at 52.54, he is followed closely by Jack Aikins (52.74), Destin Lasco (52.93) and Daniel Diehl (52.94). All four swimmers will have to press the issue in the morning to best position themselves for advancement.
On the women’s side, the women’s 100 freestyle could be the most-daunting gauntlet of the meet if all of the top American entries opt to contest the event. Barring scratchs, Team USA has entered Simone Manuel, Torri Huske, Kate Douglass, Gretchen Walsh and Rylee Erisman, all women with sub-53 marks to their credit.
Throughout the meet, podium contenders will be seen racing in the consolation final. It won’t be a stunner if a winner of a consolation final posts a faster time than what wins the championship final. At the 2014 Pan Pacs, Ryan Lochte won the consolation final of the 200 individual medley in 1:56.02, the same time that Japan’s Kosuke Hagino clocked in the title race. Lochte was relegated to the consolation heat after he was edged in prelims by Tyler Clary and Michael Phelps.
In 2018, Blake Pieroni won the consolation final in 48.21, which was faster than the second- and third-place times in the championship final.
Pan Pacific Championships (Entry Lists)
