Key Links
Team USA Medal Count: 11 – 5 gold, 3 silver, 3 bronze
Women’s 800m Freestyle
1. Katie Ledecky (Bethesda, Md./Stanford Swimming), 8:09.13 (Pan Pacs record)
2. Ariarne Titmus (Australia), 8:17.07
3. Leah Smith (Pittsburgh, Pa./Tucson Ford Dealers Aquatics), 8:17.21
Race Notes
• Ledecky’s time of 8:09.13 was the fifth-fastest performance of all time and a meet record.
• Ledecky won her second career Pan Pacs title in the 800m free (2014) and fifth individual title overall. She won bronze in the 200m free later in the session.
• The United States has won two medals in the women’s 800m free in seven of the last eight Pan Pacs.
• Smith won her first career Pan Pacs individual medal in a personal best by one-hundredth of a second – 8:17.21.
Quotes
Katie Ledecky (On her 800m free/200m free double tonight): “I knew it was going to tough. It’s a tough double. I’ve done it a number of times, but it’s always a difficult thing to try to get the warm down right and the warm up right for the 200 and I never really know how it’s going to go until I get in there. There’s a lot I can learn from that. I like to push boundaries and I like to push my range in swimming the shorter events and the longer events, so I’m proud that I made the decision to swim those two events. I did the best I could and came away with two medals and can’t complain about that.”
Men’s 1500m Freestyle
1. Jordan Wilimovsky (Malibu, Calif./Team Santa Monica), 14:46.93
2. Zane Grothe (Boulder City, Nev./Mission Viejo Nadadores), 14:48.40
3. Jack McLoughlin (Australia), 14:55.92
Race Notes
• Wilimovsky won his first career Pan Pacs medal and the second straight gold in the men’s 1500m free for the United States. He will swim the open water 10K on Tuesday.
• Grothe posted his lifetime-best and silver-medal winning swim of 14:48.40 in the first heat of the timed final on Thursday morning.
• Robert Finke (Clearwater, Fla./St. Petersburg Aquatics) posted a lifetime-best swim of 14:48.70 in the fastest heat of the timed final but was ineligible for the bronze medal per Pan Pacs rules after Wilimovsky and Grothe placed 1-2 for the U.S.
Quotes
Jordan Wilimovsky (On his race): “I was just excited to race. We got here Sunday night, and I’ve been getting ready for the 1500 and looking forward to it. The time was a little off what I wanted to go. I think I went out a little hard – a little rushed on the rate and spun a little bit. I’m always happy to try and get on the podium for the U.S., so that was good.”
Women’s 100m Breaststroke
1. Lilly King (Evansville, Ind./Indiana University), 1:05.44
2. Jessica Hansen (Australia), 1:06.20
3. Reona Aoki (Japan), 1:06.34
5. Micah Sumrall (Pflugerville, Texas/Chattahoochee Gold Swim Club), 1:06.56
Race Notes
• King won her first career Pan Pacs title. She is now the defending Olympic Games, FINA World Championships and Pan Pacific Championships champion and has not lost the 100m breast since 2015.
• The United States has won five straight Pan Pacs gold medals in the women’s 100m breast.
Quotes
Lilly King (On whether this event makes her look ahead to the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo): “I just try to take it year by year. I kind of feel like it is a little bit of a rehearsal for the Olympics just because we’re in the same city and we’re getting used to the culture and things like that.”
King (On what she’s hoping to accomplish at this meet): “I was hoping to be quite a bit faster tonight actually, but a win for USA is a win for USA … Hopefully the 200 is a lot better. I still have to make the [2019] Worlds team in that, so I’m looking forward to that in two days.”
Men’s 100m Breaststroke
1. Yasuhiro Koseki (Japan), 59.08
2. Jake Packard (Australia), 59.20
3. Joao Gomes (Brazil), 59.60
4. Andrew Wilson (Bethesda, Md./Longhorn Aquatics), 59.70
7. Michael Andrew (Lawrence, Kan./Race Pace Club), 1:00.04
Race Notes
• The United States has not won Pan Pacs gold in this event since Brendan Hansen did so in 2006.
Women’s 200m Freestyle
1. Taylor Ruck (Canada), 1:54.44 (Pan Pacs record)
2. Rikako Ikee (Japan), 1:54.85
3. Katie Ledecky (Bethesda, Md./Stanford Swimming), 1:55.15
4. Allison Schmitt (Canton, Mich./Pitchfork Aquatics), 1:56.71
Race Notes
• After winning gold in the 800m free earlier in the session, Ledecky claimed her sixth career individual Pan Pacs medal (five gold, one bronze).
• Ledecky also set a Pan Pacific Championships record in the prelims with a time of 1:55.16.
Quotes
Katie Ledecky (On her 200m free): “It’s always great to get a medal for Team USA. I’ve been a lot faster than that a number of times this year, so I’m a little disappointed with the time. I think I have a lot more in me in that race and I’m going to continue to that for the next two years, but Taylor and Rikako had tremendous swims and it was a lot of fun to race some of the world’s best right there.”
Men’s 200m Freestyle
1. Townley Haas (Richmond, Va./NOVA of Virginia Aquatics), 1:45.56
2. Andrew Seliskar (McLean, Va./California Aquatics), 1:45.74
3. Katsuhiro Matsumoto (Japan), 1:45.92
Race Notes
• Haas and Seliskar both won their first career Pan Pacs medals.
• Haas’ gold was the first for the U.S. in the Pan Pacs men’s 200m free since 2010 and just the third since 1993.
Quotes
Townley Haas (On his race tonight): “That was a very hard race. I honestly would have liked to have gone a little faster, but it felt really good to win. That’s the goal for anyone.”
Women’s 400m Individual Medley
1. Yui Ohashi (Japan), 4:33.77
2. Melanie Margalis (Clearwater, Fla./St. Petersburg Aquatics), 4:35.60
3. Sakiko Shimizu (Japan), 4:36.27
4. Brooke Forde (Louisville, Ky./Stanford Swimming), 4:39.22
Race Notes
• Margalis won her first career Pan Pacs medal.
• The United States had won three straight gold medals in the women’s 400m IM.
Men’s 400m Individual Medley
1. Chase Kalisz (Bel Air, Md./Athens Bulldog Swim Club), 4:07.95
2. Kosuke Hagino (Japan), 4:11.13
3. Daiya Seto (Japan), 4:12.60
4. Jay Litherland (Alpharetta, Ga./Dynamo Swim Club), 4:12.87
Race Notes
• Kalisz won his first career Pan Pacs gold medal after taking bronze in the 400m IM in 2014.
• Kalisz went from being more than a second down at the midway point of the race to nearly 2 seconds clear of the field after the breaststroke leg.
Quotes
Chase Kalisz (On coming from behind for the gold medal): “The Japanese are definitely way stronger than me on the front half. So I just had to keep my composure for the first 200 and really play to my strengths, and I think I did a good job of that tonight. I just knew I needed to keep building on the breaststroke and get a good enough lead so I could be prepared to hold them off if they were going to make a charge in the freestyle.”
Kalisz (on competing in Tokyo ahead of the 2020 Olympic Games): “I think it’s good getting familiar with being here, getting to know the city, and it’s going to be similar climate and weather conditions when the Games roll around in two years. I think it’s a good preparation.”
Mixed 400m Medley Relay
1. Australia, 3:38.91
2. Japan, 3:40.98
3. United States (Kathleen Baker, Michael Andrew, Caeleb Dressel, Simone Manuel), 3:41.74
Race Notes
• The mixed 400m medley relay made its Pan Pacific Championships debut, with Team USA taking bronze.
• The mixed 400m medley relay will be contested for the first time at the Olympic Games in 2020 in Tokyo.