LOS ANGELES: The 2022 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships will be ‘deferred’ to 2026 to accommodate changes in the international calendar due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Canada, one of four Pan Pac charter nations along with Australia, the United States and Japan, will still host the event.

The one-year postponement of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics has made for a jammed international calendar, with 2022 already scheduled to include the July 27-Aug 7 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England and world governing body FINA moving the 2021 World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, to May 13-29 in 2022.

Organizing a third major championship in that window ‘presented several challenges’ the Swimming Canada noted while announcing the new plans on Thursday.

“We are looking forward to hosting this event, but in the bigger picture, everyone can benefit from the decision to defer the Pan Pacific Championships by four years,” Swimming Canada President Cheryl Gibson said.

“The Pan Pacific Championships will remain a benchmark event in the future,” Gibson added of a competition conceived as a way to provide a major international meeting for countries not eligible for the European Swimming Championships. “We now look forward to hosting a great event in 2026, welcoming our fellow Charter Nations Australia, Japan and Team USA, as well as other guests from around the world for a celebration of our sport at its best.”

Published in Dawn, May 30th, 2020