Multiple Para Records Go Down In Girls’ 200 IM During OJI Night One Finals

2024 Ontario Junior International

• December 12-15, 2024
• Toronto, Ontario
• Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre
• SCM (25 meters)
• Meet Central
• Live Results
• Live Stream

The Ontario Junior International got off to a fast start on Day 1. After breaking Summer McIntosh’s Canadian National Age Group Record For 11-12 girls in prelims with a 2:16.07, 12-year-old Shima Taghavi finished fifth in the championship final, where she was the youngest swimmer by four years. Taghavi was three-hundredths off the record she set in prelims, clocking 2:16.10.

BROCK’s Madison Kryger won the race, swimming a lifetime best 2:10.07 to break through the 2:12.65 she swam at this meet last winter. She showed signs of a big swim during prelims when she neared her lifetime best with a 2:12.78. Kryger is verbally committed to joining the University of Tennessee in the fall of 2026.

She jumped out to the lead on the butterfly leg with a 27.93 split and had the field’s fastest split on all but the breaststroke leg, where second-place Kamila Blanchard made up some ground on her with a 37.79 split compared to Kryger’s 39.71. But, it was Taghavi who had the field’s best breaststroke split with a 36.97.

Though Taghavi was just off her Canadian NAG, plenty of other records fell during the women’s individual medley events. In the women’s 150m IM, lone competitor Aly Van Wyck-Smart reset the SM3 Canadian Para Record she swam in prelims, swimming a 4:20.43. Then, in the women’s para 200 IM, 18-year-old Mary Jibb broke the SM9 Ontario Para Record (2:40.54), while 12-year-old Alessa Darby broke the SM6 Ontario Para Record (4:25.50).

On the boys’ side, 18-year-old Raphael Blamart won the championship 200 IM final. Blamart used a strong freestyle split (27.93) to become the only boy in the final to break the 2:00 mark. Blamart swam 1:59.93, a few tenths off the 1:59.68 lifetime best he swam last month at the French Elite Championships. Francis Brennan touched second in 2:00.45, edging ahead of Alexandre Yazedjian.

The event schedule was light for this first finals session as organizers left room for two distance events. BTSC’s Taira Vroom, a University of Cincinnati commit, swam a huge lifetime best of 16:23.81 to win. She dropped 18.53 seconds from the 16:42.34 she swam at this meet last year. Meanwhile, Simon Fonseca—part of Canada’s 2024 Junior Pan Pacs team—won the boys’ 800 freestyle. He logged 7:56.08, breaking eight minutes for the first time in his career.

CAMO’s quartet of Lucas Morin (23.56), Ali Sayed (21.44), Gabrielle Beasse (25.50), and Charlotte Brousseau (26.49) won the final event of the session, the mixed 4×50 relay. The team swam a 1:36.99, winning by 1.56 seconds.