South Korean teenager Park Tae-hwan, who grabbed the country's first gold medals at a major international meet, has set his sights on Australia's multiple world and Olympic champion Grant Hackett.

Park, who turns 17 in September, won gold in the men's 400 and 1,500 metres freestyle at the Pan Pacific championships in Victoria, Canada.

He also won silver in the 200m and 800m.

"I want to take on the world's best Grant Hackett," Park said. "I want to compete against Hackett at the World Championship next year."

Park did not have the opportunity to face Hackett in Canada as several of Australia's top swimmers decided to skip the meeting.

Hackett has not competed seriously since last year's World Championships in Montreal after surgery to repair torn cartilage in his right shoulder.

"The biggest win for me at this meet was self-confidence," Park said.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.