As if qualifying for the Olympic team wasn’t enough, Javier Acevedo broke the junior world record in the 100m backstroke en route to his first place finish.
Acevedo was out in a 26.48 and came back spinning with a 27.19 final 50 in order to win the race in a time of 53.67. That time took a huge 0.36-second chunk off the previous 100m backstroke junior world record of 54.03 held by Aspostolos Christou of Greece.
Although Acevedo’s time is the world junior record, the fastest time ever recorded by a male swimmer in that age range was a 53.38 by Ryan Murphy when he was 17. Murphy recorded that swim before FINA began recording age group records.
Acevedo’s new junior world record dipped under the FINA ‘A’ qualifying time, securing his spot on the Canadian squad for the Olympics in Rio this summer.
Entering the meet with a 55.24 seed time, Acevedo took an incredible 1.57-seconds off his personal best time in order to take down defending national champion Russell Wood.
Acevedo was also just three one-hundredths shy of Pascal Wollach’s 53.63 Canadian record that he set back in 2009 in the super-suit era.
That makes Acevedo’s time the fastest non-suited swim ever done by a Canadian. Previously Charles Francis’ 53.91 from the London Olympic Games was the fastest non-suited swim.
Acevedo will also be competing in the 100m freestyle, 200m backstroke, and the 200m IM to conclude this competition before hopping in the pool to begin his Olympic preparation.
Ajax is left in the dust. It’s Markham now!
Couldn’t agree more with the last 2 comments. Javier’s performance is a testament to his character, his dedication and his hard work. Also testament to his coach over the past 3 years. In spite of, not because of, his new club and what happened over the past 6 months. Way to go Javier. Ajax forever.
If you’ve been watching swimming in the GTA over the last couple of years you could see this uptick coming from these kids. Javier has been an absolute stud and given the upheaval in his swimming life over the last six months his results are a credit to his coaches (past and present), his family and most importantly himself. Penny has been racing up the charts as well and there are more coming. Keep an eye on Kayla Sanchez – this 15 year old is making A Finals and by birth year is too young to be there.
So proud of Javi, Danika, Kayla, Phil, Ryan, and Rob!
Javier made crazy sacrifices this year in preparation then had horrible situations that he (and his teammates) have risen above. You all are such an inspiration to the other former Ajax swimmers, and are truly their ‘heroes’. Javier’s speech after winning was so eloquent and mature. We wish you the best in Rio!
Congratulations to all of you on all of your success and being amazing athletes! As was said at one of the team banquets – the truly great athletes are not a**holes, but are dignified and mature. Thank you for demonstrating that to everyone, Javier!!
… Now all the trolls need to go back under their bridges and… Read more »
I KNOW JAVIER IRL AND HE DESERVED IT ITS NOT A SURPRISE CANADA IS VERY GOOD IN SWIMMING AND IS A VERY ACCOMPLISHED SWIMMER
CONGRATS JAVIER ACCEVADO
Wow! I really thought there were around 150 million people in Canada! 😆
The country is so large on a map!
I believe I’ve confused with Mexico!
I need to review my geography.
I know winter sports are much more important in Canada.
But you can recognize with me that the London performance even for a country of 35 million people was very weak. Especially in terms of gold medals
I’m pretty sure you will do much better in Rio.
L
1/10 of US population, and a sporting culture generally around winter sports. Canada’s swimming performance is probably more a cyclical thing, I’m sure that the performance director would disagree though, but the reality is he hasn’t changed much, only the qualification process.
Not too mention, Canada always looks back at the glory days of the 80s and says how do we get back to that. Maybe we were better back then, but it’s also a lot more competitive now.
These young Canadians have huge time drops this year.
After Oleksiak here comes Acevedo. Who saw that coming?
Looks like Canadian swimming finally wakes up. We saw the first signs last year.
Same for Canadian track and field by the way.
I’ve always wondered why Canada is so weak at each summer olympic games with such a big population and such a sporting tradition. 37th in the medal table at 2012 olympic games with only only 1 gold medal and only 18 medals overall!
Its neighbor USA was first with 46 gold medals and 102 medals overall!