Johnstone Leads the Way for New Zealand with Para Pan Pacs Bronze
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Competition Wrap – 2026 Pan Pacific Para Swimming Championships
Our four-strong New Zealand team put together three solid days of racing at the 2026 Pan Pacific Para Swimming Championships in Walnut, California, with 16-year-old Jessica Johnstone coming home with a bronze medal and multiple national records, along with a total of seven personal best times for the team.
Jessica Johnstone (St Peter's – coached by Alastair Johnson) led the way for the New Zealand team, claiming bronze in the women's multi-class 100m breaststroke and taking down not one but two of Dame Sophie Pascoe's SB9 national records – over both the 50m and 100m breaststroke.
After posting 1:18.88 in the heats, it was clear that Johnstone was in fine form coming into the competition. In the final, Johnstone got off to a flying start – breaking Pascoe's SB9 50m breaststroke national record over the opening lap of the race – before storming home to be second to the wall and break Pascoe's SB9 100m breaststroke national record too. With results ranked by World Para Swimming (WPS) points, Johnstone took bronze in 990 WPS points behind the Brazilian duo of Beatriz De Araujo Flausino and world-record breaking Alessandra Oliveira Dos Santos.
Reflecting on her mindset going into the race, Johnstone explained:
"I had a lane, I had a chance. And I gave it my absolute best!"
Johnstone's winning time of 1:17.29 in the 100m took just over two tenths of a second off the New Zealand open record Paralympic great Pascoe set in 2013, and makes Johnstone the fastest performer in the world this year in the women's SB9 classification. Johnstone's effort also reset the 16/U national records across the 50m and 100m distances.
Fellow Kiwi Gabriella Smith (Wharenui / University of Queensland – coached by David Heyden) also made the A final of the 100m breaststroke, lining up alongside Johnstone. Smith clocked 1:20.02 to place seventh with 943 WPS points, a swim that lifts her to third fastest in the world this year in the women's SB9 100m breaststroke – a strong result in its own right.
Smith also contested the women's 200m individual medley, where she placed fifth in the B final with a time of 2:39.84 – just over a second outside her best time set at the NZ Swimming Championships in May.
Rylee Sayer (Hamilton Aquatics – coached by Mat Woofe) opened her Para Pan Pacs campaign with a personal best time in the heats of the 100m freestyle on the opening day of racing, before placing eighth in the C final. Her campaign was then disrupted by illness, which forced her to withdraw from the final of the 50m butterfly and the heats of the 400m freestyle.
The 17-year-old showed great resilience to bounce back on day three, placing seventh in the B final of the women's multi-class 100m butterfly and fifth in the C final of the 50m freestyle. Both swims came with an added challenge, too – Sayer competed up a classification in each, ranked by WPS points as an S8 swimmer rather than her typical S7.
Brooke Anderson (Wharenui – coached by Jack Ward) also had a strong championships, racing for the first time outside of Australia or New Zealand. She contested the C final of the women's multi-class 100m backstroke on the final day of competition, placing sixth in 1:42.60 – outside her best time set in the heats earlier that day. Across the three days, Anderson set personal best times in four of her five swims, capping off a valuable three days of racing for the Wharenui swimmer.
The Pan Pacific Para Swimming Championships provided an opportunity for high-quality international competition, with the USA, Australia, Japan and Canada among the nations competing in California, and offered an important stepping stone towards LA 2028, giving athletes the chance to gain experience racing in the wider Los Angeles area ahead of the Paralympic Games in two years' time. All events were contested in multi-class format, with results determined using the World Para Swimming points system to create an equitable field of play across classifications.
Congratulations to all of the swimmers, coaches and home clubs on their performances throughout the championships.
Results by Swimmer
Brooke Anderson
Women's 100m freestyle MC – (heat: 1:26.78 – PB)
Women's 400m freestyle MC – (heat: 6:36.55 – PB)
Women's 100m backstroke MC – 6th place in C final (C final: 1:42.60 heat: 1:40.04 – PB)
Women's 50m freestyle MC – (heat: 38.00 – PB)
Jessica Johnstone – 1 x bronze
Women's 100m breaststroke MC – bronze medal (A final: 1:17.29 – NZ open + 16/U record + PB; heat: 1:18.88)
Also NZ open + 16/U record + PB over opening 50m (35.85)
Rylee Sayer
Women's 100m freestyle MC – 8th place in C final (final: 1:17.29; heat: 1:16.06 – PB)
Women's 50m butterfly MC – withdrew from A final (heat: 36.10)
Women's 50m freestyle MC – 5th place in C final (C final: 34.14; heat: 34.14)
Women's 100m butterfly MC – 7th place in B final (B final: 1:27.43; heat: 1:25.27)
Gabriella Smith
Women's 100m breaststroke MC – 7th place in A final (A final: 1:20.04; heat: 1:20.08)
Women's 200m individual medley MC – 5th place in B final (B final: 2:39.84; heat: 2:43.10)
New Zealand Team
Name | Organisation | Role |
Simon Mayne | Swimming NZ | Head Coach |
Amanda White | Swimming NZ | Team Manager |
Graeme White | Team Physio |
Name | Club | Coach |
Brooke Anderson | Wharenui | Jack Ward |
Jessica Johnstone | St Peter's | Alastair Johnson |
Rylee Sayer | Hamilton Aquatics | Mat Woofe |
Gabriella Smith | Wharenui / University of Queensland | David Heyden |
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