By Braden Keith on SwimSwam
USA Swimming has confirmed the William Woollett Jr. Aquatics Center in Irvine, California as the host of the 2026 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships. The arena was the presumed host after Board of Directors minutes released last year showed the the Southern California region as the hosts, but Monday’s announcement confirmed the exact facility location.
The 2026 Pan Pacs will be the first edition of the quadrennial meet since 2018. The four Pan Pac charter nations — Australia, Canada, Japan, and the United States — agreed to cancel the 2022 meet back in 2020 because the international swimming calendar was getting too crowded with major international meets due to pandemic-induced delays.
Canada was set to host the 2022 Pan Pacs and, even after its cancellation, was expected to host the 2026 edition of the meet. However, an official host city was never named by Swimming Canada. Canada has only hosted Pan Pacs twice in the 38-year history of the meet, the last time being the 2006 edition in Victoria.
Ultimately, the meet was moved to Southern California as part of the buildup to the LA28 Olympic and Paralympic Games, creating both a testing ground for the travel ahead of the Olympics and to build some marketing momentum for swimming in the region ahead of the Games.
Founded as an alternative to the European Championships, the first Pan Pac meet was held in 1985. The meet was initially open to all nations bordering the Pacific Ocean, but has since been expanded to include other non-European countries such as Brazil and South Africa. Pan Pacs was a biennial meet until 2002, when it switched to the even year between each Summer Olympics.
“We are thrilled to be hosting the Pan Pacific Championships in 2026 and look forward to welcoming the best of the world to Southern California 16 years after we last hosted PanPacs at this very venue,” said USA Swimming COO and Interim CEO Shana Ferguson. “We extend our gratitude to the City of Irvine and the amazing staff of the Woollett Aquatics Center for having the vision to bring this event to life.”
The William Woolett Aquatics Center was constructed as part of a major renovation to the original Heritage Park Aquatics Complex in Irvine, California. The center includes two 50-meter pools and abundant seating for athletes and fans. The facility also hosted the 2010 Pan Pacific Championships and numerous USA Swimming elite competitions, including the 2005, 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018, and 2022 National Championships and the 2005 Mutual of Omaha Duel in the Pool.
In its normal configuration, it seats about 700 spectators, but with temporary bleachers it is often expanded to as large as 4,000 seats.
The venue for the Open Water competition will be announced at a later date.
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