Ethan Ekk & Oliver Dawson Shine With Best Times On Day 1 Of 2025 Canadian Open

2025 SPEEDO CANADIAN SWIMMING OPEN

• April 10-12, 2025
• Edmonton, AB, Canada
• Edmonton Kinsmen Sports Centre
• LCM (50m)
• Prelims 11:30am (ET) / Finals 7pm (ET)
• Event Page
• Live Results
• YouTube Livestream
• CBC Livestream

The opening finals session of the 2025 Canadian Open is in the books, with a wave of fast swims across the board at Edmonton’s Kinsmen Sports Centre. From seasoned Olympians notching season-bests to rising age group talents setting personal bests, the night featured standout performances across all levels.

In what was probably the most anticipated race of the evening, the women’s 100 backstroke, 58-point swimmers Ingrid Wilm and Taylor Ruck went head-to-head. Wilm claimed the win with a time of 1:00.62, ahead of Ruck’s 1:01.21. Those two, along with Canadian record holder Kylie Masse, will be the names to watch in this event as the World Championship Trials approach in less than two months.

Wilm is best known for earning bronze in both the 50 and 100 backstroke at the 2024 World Championships in Doha. She went on to place 6th in the 100 back at the Paris Olympics, and most recently added another bronze in the same event at the Short Course World Championships this past December.

In the men’s race, 2024 Olympian Blake Tierney won handily, breaking the Canadian Open meet record twice in one day. He first etched his name into the record books with a 55.12 in the prelims, then lowered it to 54.79 in the final to take the win—becoming the only swimmer to dip under the 55-second barrier. 18-year-old Ethan Ekk touched 2nd in 55.28, narrowly missing the former meet record of 55.16 that stood until Tierney broke it.

Ekk is better known for his middle-distance freestyle and strength in the 200 back, but his newly found speed in the 100 back led to a near one-second drop from his previous best. He eclipsed his old personal mark of 56.05 from last July with this breakout swim. The Stanford commit trains year-round with Area Tallahassee Aquatic Club and was ranked #16 on SwimSwam’s list of the Top 20 Boys Swimmers in the high school class of 2025.

17-year-old Oliver Dawson put on a show in the men’s 50 breaststroke, setting a meet record with a sub-28 performance of 27.98. The Indiana University commit had never broken the 28-second barrier before today, with his former best sitting at 28.59.

Dawson broke onto the Canadian national scene this summer, culminating in a bronze medal in the 100 breaststroke (1:01.27) and a silver in the 4×100 medley relay (3:36.13) at the 2024 Junior Pan Pacific Championships. His efforts helped Canada achieve its highest-ever medal total at the meet, with 16 overall.

25-year-old Mary-Sophie Harvey punched a time of 1:56.46 to easily clear the women’s 200 freestyle field, just about a second shy of her personal best of 1:55.29, which she swam on her way to 4th place in last summer’s Olympic final. However, her swim obliterated her previous season-best of 1:57.81 from the Westmont Pro Swim Series in early March. Harvey had clocked 1:56.76 at the Canadian Open last year, so she’s a few tenths ahead of where she was a year ago, which bodes well as she eyes the 1:55 barrier with championship season approaching.

19-year-old Antoine Sauve, who trains at CAMO with Harvey and coach Greg Arkhurst, broke the meet record in the men’s race. He put his hand on the wall in 1:48.21, surpassing Finlay Knox’s former record of 1:48.39 set last year. Knox is the 2024 World Champion in the 200 IM.

Ekk claimed silver in the race with a time of 1:48.51, while 16-year-old Laon Kim, a Texas commit, took 3rd in 1:50.09. It was a 2nd-best time of the night for Ekk, who edged under his previous best of 1:48.68 from last August.

Tennessee undergraduate Ella Jansen staked her claim on the women’s 200 fly, winning with a time of 2:10.85, just shy of her career best of 2:10.00 set in March 2022. She recently wrapped up her freshman season with the Volunteers at the NCAA Championships, where she finished 9th in both her individual events—the 400-yard IM and 500-yard free.

In 2023, Jansen earned five medals at the World Junior Swimming Championships, highlighted by a silver in the 400m IM, along with four relay medals.

Additional Event Winners:

• Shona Branton, 22, secured a winning result of 31.21 in the women’s 50 breast. She made headlines in January of 2024 when she dropped a big-time best time of 1:06.59 in the 100 breast.
• Calgary’s Alexanne Lepage grabbed the win in the women’s 400 IM with a time of 4:53.77. Later in the session, she grabbed bronze in the 50 breast, touching in 32.17 behind Branton. Lepage was the breakout star of the 2023 World Junior Championships, where she won both the 100 breast in a massive personal best of 1:06.58 and the 200 breast in 2:24.70, dropping from her previous best of 1:09.07 in the 100.
• A pair of 17-year-olds nabbed individual wins on the night. Zachary McLeod cruised to victory in the men’s 200 butterfly, touching in 2:03.93—just off his personal best of 2:02.77 from last July. Aiden Kirk grabbed gold in the men’s 400 IM with a time of 4:30.83, narrowly dipping under his previous best of 4:31.62. Kirk also topped the podium in the 1500 free, clocking 15:52.65 to complete his double.
• 15-year-old Abigail McLeod swam a personal best of 17:11.36 to win the women’s 1500 freestyle, dropping over five seconds from her previous mark of 17:17.09.