By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
Kayla Sanchez and Gian Santos made waves in their respective events after resetting national records at the 2026 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in Irvine, California on Thursday, Aug. 13.
Sanchez, a two-time Olympic medalist for Team Canada before switching nationalities to represent the Philippines in 2022, clocked 53.46 seconds in the women’s 100-meter freestyle final to shatter her previous PH record of 53.67sec set at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
She finished sixth overall behind Australia’s Meg Harris, who topped the field in 52.60sec.
Sanchezk, a multiple Southeast Asian Games medalist, had already lowered her national mark in the morning heats, timing 53.65sec, before delivering an even faster performance in the final.
Meanwhile, Santos clocked 1 minute and 49.78sec in the men’s 200m freestyle heats to eclipse the one-year-old mark of 1:50:29 set by Adrian Eichler at the German championships in 2025.
He, however, tied for 31st among 39 swimmers.
