Will Xu Breaks a Canadian Age Record That Has Stood For Almost 42 Years

2026 Hyack May Long Course Closed Invitational

• May 15-17, 2026
• City Centre Aquatic Complex, Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada
• Long Course Meters (50 meters)
• Results on Meet Mobile: “2026 HYACK MAY MEET CLOSED INVITATIONAL”

Canada has some really old records on its 11-12 national age group record books, and one of the oldest fell on Friday in British Columbia.

12-year-old Will Xu from the Wayland Swim Club, pending ratification, has cleared the old mark in the 800 meter freestyle.

His record-breaking swim was done as a split en route to a 1500 free time. His first 800 meters of swim was clocked at 9:02.94, which breaks the old record of 9:04.82. That time was set by Nicholas Richards on August 4, 1984, almost 42 years ago.

• Read more about Richards, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis at 25 and died in 2019 when he was 47.

Xu’s previous personal best in this race was a 9:10.81 that he did in a non-split time trial swim earlier this month. No splits were published for that race.

Xu may have been going explicitly for the split in this race. The meet schedule does not include an 800 free, and his final time in the full 1500, while fast enough to win the race, was about 24 seconds slower than his personal best.

Richards still holds the 1500 record at 17:05.50 from the same meet as his old 800 record.

Triple Olympic gold medalist Summer McIntosh remains the fastest Canadian ever in this age group regardless of gender, having clocked an 8:51.71 in 2019.

This weekend, with one day of racing to go, Xu has also won the 200 IM (2:22.68), 50 back (32.52), 100 back (1:07.33), 100 free (1:00.31), and 50 fly (29.85).