Para Pan Pacs 2018: Rebecca Meyers headlines opener

When the 2018 Pan Pacific Para Swimming Championships kicks off in Cairns, Australia, on Thursday (9 August), a three-time Paralympic champion from USA will be one of the main attractions in the pool.

Rebecca Meyers will take on the 400m freestyle, one of the events in which she won gold at the Rio 2016 Paralympics.

The 23-year-old has also won the 400m freestyle S13 at the last three World Para Swimming Championships (Montreal 2013, Glasgow 2015 and Mexico City 2017).

In Cairns, heats are multi-class races and finals have single or combined class races.

It means Meyers will meet the likes of USA’s McKenzie Coan (S7) and Canada’s Aurelie Rivard (S10) - also Rio gold medallists in their respective classes.

The day one programme also includes the men’s 400m freestyle, men’s and women’s 200m freestyle, men’s and women’s 100m breaststroke and the mixed 4x50m freestyle 20 points relay.

The Para Pan Pacifics are hosted every four years by Australia, Canada, Japan and USA. This year’s edition will run from 9 to 13 August at the Tobruk Memorial Pool.

Swimmers from other six countries will also be in action: Brazil, Costa Rica, India, New Zealand, Singapore and South Africa.