PanAm Aquatics has announced the qualification standards for the 19th Pan American Games that will take place in October 2023 in Santiago, Chile.
The meet will feature a quota of 378 athletes in addition to 28 automatic qualifiers from the 2021 Junior Pan American Games in Cali, Colombia. Winners of individual events from those Junior Pan American Games qualified directly to the 2023 Pan American Games, and do not count against a country’s delegation size or number of entries per individual event for Santiago 2023. Those spots belong to the individual, not the nation they represent.
The quota of athletes in swimming was not filled at the last edition of this meet in 2019: only 326 out of 350 were used.
Qualification Period: March 1, 2022 – August 1, 2023
The qualifying system works similar to the Olympics or World Championships: countries can enter two swimmers per event if they both clear the PQT (“A Standard”) or one swimmer if they clear the PST (“B Standard”).
There is also Universality selections for countries that don’t have any swimmers hit either standard. They can enter up to one male and one female athlete in the meet.
The Pan American Games are open to National Olympic Committees of the Americas, which includes essentially all of the western hemisphere aside from Greenland and French Guiana, which both belong to European nations. In total, 41 National Olympic Committees are expected to participate in Santiago 2023, including those from non-sovereign territories like Puerto Rico or the British Virgin Islands.
The Games have recently been led by the three most populous countries in the Americas. The United States (122gold/293total), Brazil (54gold/169total), and Mexico (37gold/138 total) topped the medals table in 2019. Canada finished 4th with 35 gold medals, though their 152 medals across all sports were more than Mexico.
In swimming, the United States led the medals table in 2019 with 21 gold and 45 total medals, followed again by Brazil with 11 gold and 33 total medals. The United States and Canada have in recent years have treated this meet as a subordinated international event, prioritizing the World Championships that come in the same year instead. The meet has still served as an important stepping stone for many athletes, though. Among the winners at the Pan American Games in 2019 who went on to swim for Team USA at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics include Alex Walsh, Annie Lazor, and Phoebe Bacon.
Delfina Pignatiello, who won three of the four Argentine gold medals in swimming in 2019, announced her retirement this week.
The 2023 Pan American Games will run from October 20 through November 5. Over 6,000 athletes are expected to participate in 38 sports. Many sports are qualifiers for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
2019 Pan American Games medals table – Swimming
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  United States |
21 | 16 | 8 | 45 |
| 2 |  Brazil |
11 | 9 | 13 | 33 |
| 3 |  Argentina |
4 | 3 | 3 | 10 |
| 4 |  Canada |
1 | 8 | 6 | 15 |
| 5 |  Ecuador |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 6 |  Chile |
0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
 Guatemala |
0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| 8 |  Mexico |
0 | 0 | 6 | 6 |
| 9 |  Colombia |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
 Trinidad and Tobago |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Totals (10 nations) | 38 | 38 | 38 | 114 | |
Is there a category for senior swimmers over 60 years old in the Pan Am games?
No. The Pan American Games are for elite open-age athlete competitors, there are no age groups competitions.
There is a Pan American Masters Swimming Championships with age groups, but that is not affiliated.
Is there a link to the document?
What is the difference between PQT and PST?
The qualifying system works similar to the Olympics or World Championships: countries can enter two swimmers per event if they both clear the PQT (“A Standard”) or one swimmer if they clear the PST (“B Standard”).
PQT – PanAm Qualifying Time – Swimmers that achieve this time are in the Games. Equivalent to the former “A” time in the A/B naming convention.
PST – PanAm Selection Time – Swimmers achieving this standard can fill quota spots after PQT, relay only and Universality spots have been allocated. Equivalent to the former “B” time in the A/B naming convention.
The PQT/PST naming convention is similar to the OQT/OST convention used in the Tokyo Olympic Games.