diff --git a/Lib/pdb.py b/Lib/pdb.py
index 458eb835265236..130e05bc3b6af2 100644
--- a/Lib/pdb.py
+++ b/Lib/pdb.py
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@
 import signal
 import socket
 import typing
-import asyncio
+lazy import asyncio
 import inspect
 import weakref
 import builtins
@@ -902,6 +902,10 @@ def _hold_exceptions(self, exceptions):
             self._chained_exception_index = 0
 
     def _get_asyncio_task(self):
+        # If asyncio has never been imported there cannot be a running task,
+        # so skip the import rather than pay for it on every interaction.
+        if 'asyncio' not in sys.modules:
+            return None
         try:
             task = asyncio.current_task()
         except RuntimeError:
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2026-08-31-11-40-00.gh-issue-156774.Pd8Lz1.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2026-08-31-11-40-00.gh-issue-156774.Pd8Lz1.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..85104694a6b2ef
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2026-08-31-11-40-00.gh-issue-156774.Pd8Lz1.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+Speed up :mod:`pdb` startup by deferring the :mod:`asyncio` import, and by
+skipping it entirely in ``Pdb._get_asyncio_task()`` when no event loop has
+been used.