Few athletes embody Mexico’s 2026 FIFA World Cup catchphrase “¿Y si sí?” quite like Paulo Strehlke. The message of optimism and doing the improbable fits very well with the 20-year-old’s barrier-breaking summer.
Today, Strehlke achieved yet another first for his home country of Mexico. With his silver medal in the men’s 10k, he became Mexico’s first ever Pan Pacific Championships medalist. Launched in 1985, the Pan Pacific Championships have been held as a European Championships alternative for countries that are not a part of European Aquatics. The championships ran every two years in the 20th century and every four years since the turn of the century. Before today, 13 countries had won medals at the championships, with the U.S.’ 609 medals topping the all-time hardware table.
Strehlke added Mexico on to the list today with a hard-fought runner-up finish to Florian Wellbrock. He started out in the front pack from the first lap and never slipped two far behind. In the final 500 or so meters, Strehlke pounced to shake off Dario Verani and surpass Nick Sloman. He accelerated through the home stretch, even making up some ground on Wellbrock, to become a clear silver winner.
This is the second big milestone that Strehlke has achieved for El Tri this summer. In May, he earned Mexico its first ever Open Water World Cup medal. Today’s accomplishment feels more monumental, though, given that the Pan Pacs have over 40 years of history and that it includes both pool and open water swimming.
Sandwiched between these two firsts was a killer performance at the 2026 Central American & Caribbean Games. Strehlke dominated both open water events and annihilated the Mexican record in the 1500 free, chopping eight seconds off to bring it to a 15:03.87. He topped the week off with another gold medal in the 800 free, hitting a 7:58.07 best time en route.
Strehlke is arguably the breakout open water swimmer of the year. This couldn’t come at a better time, as Mexico will be hosting the first stop of the 2027 Open Water World Cup in November. He’ll have a chance to win in home waters and build up his brand.
For what it’s worth, Germany and Italy also earned their first ever Pan Pacific medals in the same race, courtesy of Wellbrock’s victory and Verani’s third place finish. This, however, isn’t as monumental since Germany and Italy had never competed in a Pan Pacs before today.
On an Olympic level, Mexico has not won a swimming medal since the 1968 Mexico City Games.
All-Time Pan Pacific Medal Table As Of August 11, 2026
2026 Pan Pacific Men’s 10k Results (Top 10)
- Florian Wellbrock (GER)
- Paulo Strehlke Delgado (MEX)
- Dario Verani (ITA)
- Joshua Brown (USA)
- Ivan Puskovitch (USA)
- Joey Tepper (USA)
- Victor Moreno (BRA)
- Dylan Gravley (USA)
- Nick Sloman (USA)
- Kaito Tsujimori (JPN)