Oliver Dawson Drops Three Seconds To Break Canadian 15-17 NAG Record In 200 Breast

2024 CANADIAN OLYMPIC & PARALYMPIC TRIALS

• May 13-19, 2024
• Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre – Toronto, Ontario
• LCM (50 meters)
• Meet Central
• How To Watch
• Swimming Canada Olympic Selection Criteria
• Psych Sheets (Updated 05/10)
• Live Results
• Prelims – Day 1 Recap | Day 2 Recap | Day 3 Recap
• Finals – Day 1 Recap | Day 2 Recap

After setting a new best time on the opening day of the Canadian Olympic Trials in the 100 breast, Oliver Dawson was at it again on Wednesday in the heats of the men’s 200 breast, orchestrating a monstrous drop to break the Canadian National Age Group Record.

The 16-year-old put up a time of 2:14.20, knocking nearly three seconds off his previous best and cracking the 15-17 NAG Record of 2:14.30 set by Gabe Mastromatteo in 2019.

Dawson set his previous best time of 2:17.13 in March at the Western Canadian Championships. Prior to that, his PB stood at 2:17.70 from the 2023 World Junior Championships.

The Grand Prairie Piranhas product was relatively conservative on the opening 100, out slower than he was in his previous PB swim, and then dropped the hammer coming home. Dawson came home in 1:08.68 compared to 1:12.15 when he went 2:17.13 in March.

Relative to Mastomatteo’s previous record pace, Dawson was more than a second back with 50 meters to go, but made up 1.35 coming home with a blazing 34.08 split.

Split Comparison

Dawson’s previous best time ranked him 13th in the 15-17 age group and 7th among 16-year-old Canadians.

In setting the NAG record, he earns the distinction of being the fastest 16-year-old Canadian ever, overtaking Mastromatteo’s 2:15.78 from 2018, and also lowers his own Alberta Provincial Record for 16-year-olds.

All-Time Rankings, Canadian Boys’ 15-17 200 Breaststroke (LCM)

1. Oliver Dawson (Grand Prairie Piranhas), 2:14.20 – 2024
2. Gabe Mastromatteo (Kenora Swimming), 2:14.30 – 2019
3. Ryan Telford (Markham Aquatic Club), 2:14.87 – 2016
4. James Guest (Pointe-Claire Swim Club), 2:15.21 – 2014
5. Mathieu Bois (Club Aquatique Montreal), 2:15.44 – 2005

Dawson heads into tonight’s final as the top seed in the 200 breast, with HPC – Vancouver’s Justice Migneault sitting 2nd in 2:14.86. Pre-race favorite and the #1 seed coming into the meet, Markham’s Brayden Taivassalo, is 3rd at 2:17.83.

The Olympic ‘A’ cut in the 200 breast is 2:09.68, a time only one Canadian, National Record holder Mike Brown (2:08.84), has been faster than, while the ‘B’ cut is 2:10.33. This past October, Taivassalo set a best time of 2:10.89 at the Pan Am Games.

On Day 1 of the Trials, Dawson set back-to-back best times in the 100 breast, first clocking 1:01.52 in the prelims before getting down to 1:01.47 in the final, placing 5th overall and ranking #2 all-time among 15-17 Canadians behind Mastromatteo (1:01.24).