Laon Kim Breaks Javier Acevedos 2013 Canadian Age Record in the 50 Free

2022 ONTARIO JUNIOR INTERNATIONAL (OJI)

• December 16-18, 2022
• Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
• Short Course Meters (25 meters), Prelims/Finals
• Psych Sheets
• Live Stream
• Live Results

14-year old Hyack swimmer Laon Kim broke three more Canadian Age Records while both Ella Jansen and Camryn Kannings both picked up more individual golds on day 2 of the 2022 Ontario Junior International.

After breaking two records on Friday, Kim broke three more on Saturday.

First he swam 2:00.57 in the 200 fly for a 5th-place finish. That broke his own record of 2:00.93 set in early November in Vancouver. That race was won by Reuben Rowbotham-Keating from Great Britain in 1:57.45 after he was the runner-up in the 100 fly on Friday.

Kim’s next record-breaking swim came in the 50 free final, where he swam 22.61. That swim, along with a prelims 22.89, shattered the old record held by Olympian Javier Acevedo. Acevedo swam 23.36 in 2013. That’s the first of Kim’s records so far this week that as previously held by someone else, and gives him all of the freestyle records except for legendary swimmer Alex Baumann’s 1979 record in the 1500 free.

Kim would just miss that record on Sunday by .74 seconds, swimming 15:32.99.

The 50 free was won by 18-year-old Ramac swimmer Eric Ginzburg in 22.47. That took over a second of his previous best time of 23.53 done in July. Ginzburg represented Canada internationally at the 2022 Junior Pan Pac Championships where he finished 11th.

Kim’s final record of Saturday came in the session-ending 400 free relay where he split 50.30 leading off Hyack’s 8th-place effort. That broke his own record of 50.48 from 2022.

Kim breaking the records in the 50 and 100 freestyles is a natural extension of his results on Friday where he showed dramatically-improved opening speed in the 800 free.

On the girls’ side of the pool, two of the stars from Friday picked up additional individual wins on Saturday. Etobicoke’s Ella Jansen won the 400 free in dominant fashion, touching in 4:02.69: five seconds ahead of the field.

She also won the 200 free and 400 IM on Friday. Etobicoke is the same club that produced Canada’s top young star, Summer McIntosh, who has a similar event specialty as Jansen, among many other Canadian swim stars throughout history.

In the women’s 50 fly, 16-year old Kamryn Cannings from the University of Calgary Swim Club also picked up her 3rd win of the meet, touching in 26.31. That knocks six-tenths of a second off her previous best time and makes her the second-fastest Canadian 16-year-old ever in the event behind only Noemie Thomas (25.60).

Cannings beat out British peer Eva Okaro in the 50 fly, where Okaro was 2nd in 26.94. It was another British 16-year-old, though, Ashleigh Baillie, who disrupted Cannings’ butterfly sweep of the meet. Baillie finished in 2:10.17 to win the race, with Cannings 2nd in 2:10.50. Lucy Fox was 3rd, just behind Cannings, in 2:10.52. Fox led that race going into the final 50, but Baillie and Cannings both roared home to take the top two positions in closing splits of 33.50 and 33.87, respectively.

Baillie split her race brilliantly:

• 1st 50 – 29.48
• 2nd 50 – 33.41
• 3rd 50 – 33.78
• 4th 50 – 33.50

Other Day 2 Winners:

• 16-year old Aiden Norman of the UCSC won the men’s 100 back in 51.87, half-a-second ahead of Great Britain’s Matthew Ward. Norman’s time is the fastest by a Canadian 16-year-old byalmost a full second ahead of Cole Pratt and is very close to Pratt’s 15-17 record of 51.57.
• Jordan Gerber of the Grand Prairie Prianhas won the girls’ 100 backstroke in 1:00.04, more than half-a-second ahead of the field. She was a member of Canada’s team at Junior Pan Pacs this summer, where she finished 7th in the 200 back (an event that comes on Sunday).
• After winning the 800 on Friday, Tyler Melbourne-Smith added a victory in the 400 free in 3:46.03. The Brit beat out the top Canadian Lorne Wiggington in the event (3:47.42). Wiggington made 5 finals at the Junior Pan Pac Championships in long course over the summer.
• Filip Senc-Samardzic of the Toronto Swim Club won a nail-biter in the men’s 50 fly, finishing in 23.98. That put him .03 seconds ahead of Britain’s Matthew Ward (24.01). Senc-Samardzic also won the 100 fly on Friday.
• Amaris Peng won the girls’ 200 breaststroke in 2:27.06, beating-out Julie Brousseau by .09 seconds. Both she and Brayden Taivassalo (who won the boys’ 200 breast in 2:08.48) enter Sunday just a 50 breaststroke win away from a stroke sweep.