Has Canada Found Their Female Breaststroker? Alexanne Lepage Breaks Out At World Juniors

2023 WORLD JUNIOR SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• September 4 – 9, 2023
• Netanya, Israel
• Wingate Institute
• LCM (50m)
• Meet Central
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In one of the biggest upsets of the 2023 World Junior Championships, Canada’s Alexanne Lepage took down Championship Record holder Eneli Jefimova for gold in the girls’ 100 breaststroke.

The 17-year-old Lepage was 3rd at the halfway mark, more than a second back of Jefimova (30.66) in 31.66, but stormed home in 34.92 to overtake the Estonian and claim the title in 1:06.58, out-touching Jefimova by 26 one-hundredths.

Jefimova, who broke a decade-old Championship Record in the semis at 1:06.23, settled for silver in 1:06.84.

Canada claim the first gold medal at the World Juniors 2023 with Alexanne LEPAGE 🇨🇦

New World Junior Champion in the 100m Breaststroke event! @SwimmingCanada pic.twitter.com/UwL2jyFryN

— World Aquatics (@WorldAquatics) September 7, 2023

It was a thrilling race, and it marked the first gold medal of the meet for Canada. On top of that, Lepage’s swim has major implications for the Canadians moving forward into the Olympic year, particularly for the women’s 4×100 medley relay.

The breaststroke leg has long been Canada’s weak link in the medley relay. At the 2022 World Championships in Fukuoka, Sophie Angus delivered a massive 1:06.21 leg to keep them in the medal hunt, and the Canadians eventually won bronze. Angus also split 1:06.30 in prelims, and the consistency of those two splits made it seem that she’d be the go-to for breaststroke duties on the medley relay.

But now, Lepage has thrown her hat in the ring.

Her time of 1:06.58 makes her the fastest Canadian woman in the 100 breaststroker this season, with Angus’ personal best of 1:07.34 from Worlds the top time prior to tonight’s session. With her time from World Juniors, Lepage would’ve qualified for the semifinals in Fukuoka and eventually finished 12th (Angus placed 22nd).

It’s not just the time that makes Lepage a promising addition to the medley relay, it’s her improvement trajectory. Coming into the meet, she had a personal best of 1:09.07, swum at August’s Canadian Championships. During the semifinals, she swam a personal best of 1:07.60 before lowering her mark again in the final.

Lepage only broke the 1:10 barrier in the 100 breast earlier this year at the Canadian Swimming Trials in late March. Entering 2023, her career-best time was 1:10.69

Split Comparison: Lepage 100 BR Personal Bests

Over the course of the meet, Lepage has taken 2.49 seconds off her PB in the 100 breast. Clearly, a large part of that improvement is owed to her back half, but she was also able to open her finals swim sub-32 in 31.66, which put her well under her own semi-final pace and also kept Jefimova in her sights.

Lepage, who turns 18 in October, narrowly missed the Canadian 15-17 NAG Record (1:06.53) set by Amanda Reason in 2009. She’s already almost equaled Angus’ flying split with her flat start, and has only just broken through.

A product of the Vernon Kokanee Swim Club in British Columbia, Lepage has been representing the Kelowna AquaJets over her last two meets in Canada, led by coach Marc Tremblay. The Vernon club is led by coach Steven Vander Meulen. Based on her Instagram bio, she will swim at the University of Calgary when she finishes high school.

The girls’ medley relay hasn’t gone off yet at World Juniors, so we don’t yet know what Lepage has up her sleeve in terms of a split. But, whatever she produces will be a good data point for what she could potentially bring to the senior medley relay. And, if she continues improving over the next year, she could propel Canadian breaststroke back onto the scene in the individual events in addition to boosting the relay’s prospects.

On the other medley relay legs, Canada fielded Kylie Masse, Maggie MacNeil, and Summer McIntosh. They’ve also got Ingrid Wilm as another top-tier backstroke option, and on freestyle, it’s possible we see Penny Oleksiak and/or Taylor Ruck back on top form next year.

Those swimmers make Canada’s medley relay a consistent podium threat, but adding Lepage could put them into contention with the Americans and Australians next year in Paris. The Australians have had their own breaststroke leg troubles, and Lepage could be just what the Canadians need to move up on the podium.