14-Year-Old Kayla Han Becomes #3 American 13-14 All-Time in Girls 400 IM – 4:43.60

2022 JUNIOR PAN PACIFIC CHAMPIONSHIPS

• August 24-27, 2022
• Mark Takai Veterans Memorial Aquatics Center
• Honolulu, Hawaii (Hawaii-Aleutian Standard Time)
• Prelims 9:00 AM / Finals 5:00 PM (GMT-10)
• LCM (50m)
• Meet Central
• Psych Sheets
• Live Results
• Live Streaming
• Five main story lines – boys
• Five main story lines – girls

GIRLS 400 METER INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY – FINAL

• Jr World: 4:29.01 – Summer McIntosh, CAN (2022)
• Jr Pan Pac: 4:39.76 – Becca Mann, USA (2012)

Podium:

1. Mio Narita, Japan – 4:36.79
2. Hayla Han, USA – 4:43.60
3. Ayami Suzuki, Japan – 4:43.70

American Kayla Han, who turned 14 years old at the beginning of the summer, earned silver in the girls 40o IM tonight at the 2022 Junior Pan Pacific Championships in Honolulu. She swam a 4:43.60, taking 1.03 seconds off her previous personal best in the event, which was set at the U.S. International Team Trials in April, when Han was still 13.

With the swim, Han, who still has about 9 months left as a 14-year-old, has now risen to #3 all-time among Americans in the 13-14 girls age group. She’s got her work cut out for her to move up any further in the rankings, however, as the top 2 performers, Becca Mann and Katie Hoff, were both under 4:40 as 14-year-olds. Coincidentally, Mann’s 13-14 National Age Group Record of 4:39.76 was also the Junior Pan Pacs Record in the event, which was broken by Japan’s Mio Narita tonight.

All-Time Top 10 Performers – U.S. 13-14 Girls LCM 400 IM:

1. Becca Mann – 4:39.76 (2012)
2. Katie Hoff – 4:39.82 (2004)
3. Kayla Han – 4:43.60 (2022)
4. Claire Tuggle – 4:44.81 (2018)
5. Elizabeth Beisel – 4:44.87 (2007)
6. Mariah Denigan – 4:45.41 (2018)
7. Erika Hansen – 4:45.58 (1984)
8. Avery Klamfoth – 4:45.72 (2022)
9. Jenny Parmenter – 4:46.36 (1995)
10. Leah Hayes – 4:46.48 (2019)

For comparison, here is a split breakdown between Han’s swim tonight and Mann’s 13-14 NAG, which was also the Jr Pan Pacs Record in the event.

Han is already faster than Mann on the backstroke leg, but there’s a lot of work to be done on fly and free to get down to Mann’s splits. It’s important to note that Mann’s freestyle split of 1:01.46 is very fast, and Han wouldn’t need to get down to that speed in order to break Mann’s record. The good news for Han is that she’s already faster than Mann was on the middle 200 of the race.

Han first made headlines last year, when she qualified for the U.S. Olympic Trials at the age of 12. She turned 13 before the Wave I Trials began, but she was still the youngest competitor at the meet. Since then, She’s only continued to drop time across a wide variety of events. The IMs and distance freestyle events have remained her greatest strengths. As for what’s left of Han’s schedule at these Championships, she’s set to race the 400 free tomorrow and the 1500 free on Saturday.