2026 PAN PACIFIC CHAMPIONSHIPS – Open Water

And so it begins. Welcome to the very first women’s swimming event of the 2026 Pan Pacific Championships from the shores of Long Beach, California – the same waterfront expected to be used for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

Open water’s top names from the Americas, Australia, South Africa, and Japan – along with one entrant from Germany – will jockey for the women’s 10k title. Moesha Johnson, the 28-year-old Aussie phenom, leaves no question as to who the gold medal favorite is. The #1 ranked swimmer in the world, Johnson is the event’s defending world champion. She also went undefeated in 10ks at the 2026 Open Water World Cup, with most of her closest competition hailing from Europe rather than present Pan-Pac company.

Behind Johnson, Japan’s Ichika Kajimoto stands out as the swimmer in Long Beach with the most momentum coming in. Though she’s typically better at the shorter open water races, the 22-year-old stands at #2 in the world rankings

Homefield and advantage and a deep mix of experience and rising talent makes it likely for us to see an American flag on this afternoon’s podium. Throughout the qualification races for this meet, Mariah Denigan and Brinkleigh Hansen traded off the pole position of top Yankee, and both could be in the top pack this morning. At just 16 years of age, Hansen seems especially primed for an international breakthrough. These two will be joined by TAC Titans-based veterans Becca Mann and Ashley Twichell

Two-time pool Olympian Katie Grimes will also be trying her hand at open water, and she’s coming off a strong meet at U.S. nationals.

Without further ado, let’s get into the live recap. The ladies are expected to kick off at 1:00 PM ET, or 10:00 AM local time. See the links at the of the page for livestream and entries.

Lap 1

USA Swimming currently doesn’t have any audio on its livestream, but we see Japan’s Airini Ebina taking an early lead on the first of six 1.6k laps. She is swimming with intention and striking through the water with around a 4-beat kick. She isn’t lifting her head much to scope out direction.

It’s a sea of Aussies behind the leader, with Johnson holding the #2 spot as they make the transition to lap 2.

Atypical to this early in the race, we already see spread out lines. No athletes in the top 5, which still includes Ebina and several Aussies, are swimming side-by-side. Instead, they’re in a single file line. Behind the first five or six athletes, there exists a bigger gap where the rest of the pack lie.

Later on in the lap, we now see four Australians swimming side-by-side in the 2-5 position. Could this be planned? A 28-year-old Becca Mann looms near and could spoil the down-under wall.

Lap 2

We are not seeing 24-year-old Ebina let her foot off the gas pedal whatsoever, even though she leads comfortably with nobody drafting directly off her.

As the lap progresses, Moesha Johnson is creeping up closer to the leader. This has been the point in most of the World Cup races this year that we’ve seen Johnson take the reins and never relinquish them again. We’ll see if this is what happens here.

As the camera pans out, we see a calm body of water that’s 77 degrees today with no clouds in the sky. LA 2028 seems less susceptible to open water conditions controversy than Paris 2024 or Rio de Janeiro 2016.

Lap 3

Some took their end-of-lap-2 feed, while some didn’t. It was clear through the transition, though, the Moesha Johnson had become the leader.

UVA fans checking in on Katie Grimes will be happy to hear that she is now in the mix.

Throughout the lap, we’ve seen previous leader Ebina decelerate.

Lap 4

Aussie, Aussie., Aussie. Moesha Johnson still holds the lead with two more dolphin caps directly behind her.

We’re down to about a half a dozen ladies in the first group, and the gap between them and the chase group keeps growing.

Lap 5

Here comes Kajimoto. The 22-year-old Japan native has entered 4th place with her teammate Ebina just behind her in 5th. The 3k Knockout Sprint world champion has the closing speed required to challenge the Australians out front if needed.

Johnson looks as strong as ever, as does second-place Jacqueline Davison-McGovern. Kajimoto has a madwoman tempo to not let them get away, and Becca Mann has moved into the top five.

Airini Ebina has passed her compatriot for third place. The 24-year-old has never won an international medal per the World Aquatics website, so this could be a huge breakout if she can hold on.

We are witnessing a much sparser race than the men’s 10k earlier, which in its own right wasn’t super crowded. All of the top five women are still swimming in an unevenly-distributed single file, and the rest of the race is out of frame.

Final

Moesha Johnson kicked it up several gears as soon as the 5th lap transition to the 6th. Barring something insane, she will be your 2026 Pan Pac Champion. Behind her, the race for 2nd heats up as the Japanese women catch up to Davison-McGovern. With her closing speed, Kajimoto is a very strong silver threat.

As expected, it was Johnson by a mile at the finish. Stay tuned for USA Swimming to update the rest of the results.

Results

Moesha Johnson (AUS)
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