IRVINE, Calif. (AP) — Ten years to the week after ending his career at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics with 23 career gold medals, Michael Phelps turned up at the Pan Pacific Championships with two of his four young sons.
And one is interested in swimming.
Beckett, who's 8, and brother Maverick, who's 6, sat with their dad and mom Nicole watching two days of the international meet featuring the U.S., Australia, Canada and Japan. Oldest brother Boomer, age 10, was keeping youngest brother Nico, age 2, entertained at home.
Beckett took a keen interest in the racing. The U.S. team is being overseen by Phelps' longtime coach, Bob Bowman, who is an unofficial grandfather to the boys.
“Grandpa Bob is giving him some pointers here and there,” Phelps said. “I would say he’s got more of a sprinter-type stroke, so not me, which kind of makes me happy.”
The family is researching coaches in Phoenix, where they live, for Beckett.
“If he wants to be a swimmer, I will support it,” Phelps said. “I will never push him into it. I want him to become his own person. I just hope he has fun.”
Phelps was careful to explain some of the finer points to Beckett.
“I was like, ‘Dude, if you want to train hard and literally grind, this is the sport,’” he said.
Phelps began swimming when he was 7 in his hometown of Baltimore, where he was initially afraid to put his face in the water. He joined a local club partly to follow his older sisters who swam and also to channel his high energy levels that occasionally bedeviled his single mother, Debbie. He made his Olympic debut at 15 in the 2000 Sydney Games.
Now he sees some of himself in his second son's traits.
“He has a hard time turning the switch off, so when he gets angry, he gets angry,” Phelps said. “That was the same way I was, so stare at that black line and scream as loud as you possibly can.”
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Gold medalist Luca Urlando, right, of the United States, receives the medal from Michael Phelps during a medal ceremony for the men's 200-meter butterfly at the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in Irvine, Calif., Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Michael Phelps attends the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in Irvine, Calif., Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Hawaii’s Big Island was threatened Saturday with its first possible direct hit from a hurricane in 155 years as Hurricane Lala roared in the Pacific Ocean and gusty wind, waves and rain pounded the region.
The National Hurricane Center said Lala’s maximum sustained winds increased to 75 mph (120 kph), making it a Category 1 hurricane. The storm's center was forecast to move over or near the island’s southern end by the evening, lashing its worst winds at volcanic slopes thousands of feet above sea level.
Gov. Josh Green, noting rainfall of 2 inches (5 centimeters) an hour, said “people should be sheltering in place now.”
Forecasters said higher elevations on the island, dominated by the towering Mauna Kea volcano, could get as much as 25 inches (63.5 centimeters) of rain. That could cause life-threatening mudslides in a mountainous area where people live off the grid in improvised housing.
Earlier the governor called it an “enormous storm,” capable of destructive flooding and even the possibility of wildfires kicked up by strong winds across the island chain. Electricity was knocked out for nearly 20% of customers on the Big Island, according to poweroutage.us.
The island, population 210,000, is Hawaii's largest.
Bobby Camara, a 75-year-old lifelong resident, said he planned to “hunker down, cross my fingers, hope the lights don’t go out” at a care home just outside Hilo. He said gas stations were busy as people sought fuel for chain saws and vehicles.
“I think stocking up is part of life over here. ... You learn to be self-reliant,” Camara said.
Mike Caputo, who lives in Keaau, near the Big Island's east coast, said his power generator was ready and a 10,000-gallon (37.8 kiloliter) home water tank was full. He said the main concern was flash flooding and fallen trees, especially albizia, a common tree.
“They’re not very sturdy, but they grow extremely large,” said Caputo, 50, a local fire captain. “They can make roads impassable."
The Big Island was under a hurricane warning, and tropical storm warnings were issued for the islands of Maui, Molokai, Lanai, Kahoolawe, Oahu, Kauai and Niihau.
A Category 3 hurricane hit the northeast corner of the Big Island in 1871, according to research by a University of Hawaii atmospheric scientist. The latest forecast has Lala striking “very close to the southern tip of the Big Island,” said Vanessa Almanza, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Honolulu.
Shelters were opened, events were canceled and ranchers were urged to leave their cattle in pastures, rather than structures that might collapse. “It doesn’t take landfall to create destruction,” Almanza said.
Indeed, Christine Matsuda, who lives in Waimea, on the northern side of the island, said “big gusts every few minutes rattle the whole house.”
“We're finding unexpected leaks in places that don't see water under normal conditions,” Matsuda said.
The hurricane center predicted 8 to 12 inches (20.3 to 30.5 centimeters) of total rainfall across Maui and the lower elevations of the Big Island, and 4 to 6 inches (10.2 to 15.2 centimeters) across the island chain. Many Hawaii residents are still dealing with the aftermath of devastating floods in March.
As winds ramped up across the islands, Almanza said dry and breezy conditions outside the storm would elevate fire concerns.
In 2023 the Maui town of Lahaina burned during extreme winds as a hurricane passed far to the south.
“Since the fire, everybody is way more aware of weather in general and our environment and things that are happening,” said Archie Kalepa of Lahaina, who is known in the area for his surfing, paddling and other ocean skills.
Kauai, which is several islands northwest up the archipelago from the Big Island, is where Hurricane Iniki made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane in 1992 — an El Nino year like this one, when a warming of the Pacific near the equator increases Pacific hurricane activity and affects weather patterns across the globe.
“It did $3 billion worth of damage. It destroyed thousands of homes, and it did kill six people,” said Steven Businger, a University of Hawaii scientist. “We just can never know if a storm is going to turn.”
Associated Press writer Jennifer Sinco Kelleher in Honolulu contributed.
People walk along a path at Waikoloa Beach Resort as Tropical Storm Lala strengthened on the Big Island of Hawaii, Saturday, Aug. 15, 2026. (Stephen Lam/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)
Sandbags are seen at a Hawaii County Department of Public Works sand pile ahead of Tropical Storm Lala in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, Friday, Aug. 14, 2026. The tropical storm is forecast to strengthen into a hurricane as it approaches Hawaii, with up to 25 inches of rain possible on the island of Hawaii, also commonly known as the Big Island. (Stephen Lam/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)
Casey Delaries makes a sandbag in preparation for Tropical Storm Lala in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, Friday, Aug. 14, 2026. The tropical storm is forecast to strengthen into a hurricane as it approaches Hawaii, with up to 25 inches of rain possible on the island of Hawaii, also commonly known as the Big Island. (Stephen Lam/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)
Shaheer Faltas, left, and his father-in-law, Joe Brosnan, fill sandbags in preparation for the arrival of Tropical Storm Lala in Captain Cook, Hawaii, Friday, Aug. 14, 2026. (Stephen Lam/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)
This satellite image released by NOAA shows Tropical Storm Lala over the Pacific Ocean, near Hawaii, Saturday, Aug. 15, 2026. (NOAA via AP)
