Above: Brazil’s Gui Caribe, who won the 100 free at the 2023 Pan American Games.
Time standards for the 2027 Pan American Games have been revealed, and the big news is the addition of 50 meter races in butterfly, backstroke, and breaststroke, mirroring those events’ addition to the Olympic program.
The 2027 edition of the every-four-years multisport event will be held from July 23-August 8 in Lima, Peru.
Like the Olympics, the Pan American Games won’t qualify swimmers for those stroke 50s in the same way they do other races. Instead, “Quotas for the 50 m Butterfly, 50 m Backstroke, and 50 m Breaststroke will be allocated through the PanAm Aquatics Championships 2027, held in early 2027.”
The exact dates for the PanAm Aquatics Championships haven’t been announced, but that mirrors the way that World Aquatics is using the previous year’s World Cup to qualify swimmers in the stroke 50s for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.
The United States, which usually sends a “B” team to this meet, dominated the swimming at the 2023 Pan American Games. They won 21 out of 39 gold medals and 48 total medals. Canada was next in gold medals (11) and Brazil finished 2nd in total medals (27).
Qualifying Standards, Swimming, 2027 Pan American Games
| Women PQT A | Women PST B | Event | Men PQT A | Men PST B |
| 25.87 | 27.02 | 50m Freestyle | 22.63 | 23.89 |
| 56.43 | 58.75 | 100m Freestyle | 50.07 | 53.16 |
| 2:03.64 | 2:11.47 | 200m Freestyle | 1:51.42 | 1:57.40 |
| 4:18.45 | 4:37.80 | 400m Freestyle | 3:55.42 | 4:11.00 |
| 8:59.52 | 9:40.03 | 800m Freestyle | 8:13.03 | 8:47.42 |
| 17:07.13 | 18:12.91 | 1500m Freestyle | 15:53.93 | 16:55.02 |
| 1:02.96 | 1:07.37 | 100m Backstroke | 56.27 | 1:00.59 |
| 2:18.50 | 2:29.71 | 200m Backstroke | 2:03.84 | 2:12.88 |
| 1:11.54 | 1:16.89 | 100m Breaststroke | 1:02.05 | 1:05.87 |
| 2:35.36 | 2:47.08 | 200m Breaststroke | 2:16.61 | 2:27.25 |
| 1:00.65 | 1:06.24 | 100m Butterfly | 53.67 | 57.19 |
| 2:16.67 | 2:25.79 | 200m Butterfly | 2:01.46 | 2:10.34 |
| 2:19.91 | 2:31.91 | 200m Individual Medley | 2:03.34 | 2:13.22 |
| 4:59.78 | 5:24.38 | 400m Individual Medley | 4:28.27 | 4:49.50 |
I know this is a crazy idea but why not qualify stroke 50’s like any other event
Pan Am Aquatics was supposed to help developing swimming, but instead they will make swimmers from many countries with little resources to travel internationally to fight for a spot in January of 2027. Place and date to be announced when we are almost 6 months away. I bet the flight + hotel total per swimmer will cost about 6 months of a coach salary in some of the countries they “serve”.
They should be ashamed!