Laon Kim Swims 51.05 100 Free, Breaks 6th 13-14 Canadian Age Group Record Of The Week

2023 CANADIAN SWIMMING TRIALS

During the junior final of the men’s 100 free at the 2023 Canadian Swimming trials, 14-year-old Laon Kim clocked a time of 51.05 to finish third in his heat and break the Canadian 13-14 age group record in the event. He takes off over half a second from his previous record of 51.75, which was set in February 2023. In addition, Kim was also just 0.06 seconds off of Chris Weeks’ time of 50.97 that had won the junior year.

Kim went out in a time of 24.38 before closing in 26.67, posing the fastest opening 50 of the field and the third-fastest back half. The splits for his previous Canadian age record were 24.95/26.80, showing that he has developed to take out his races substantially faster.

This swim marks Kim’s sixth Canadian 13-14 age group record from trials, as he previously broke the 400 free record twice, the 50 free record twice, and the 800 free record once. He holds 13-14 Canadian boys’ age group records in five different events (50 free, 100 free, 200 free, 400 free, 800 free), which is more than any other swimmer—and this includes the likes of swimmers such as Josh Liendo and Cole Pratt, who eventually turned out to be senior team stars.

Next up, Kim will be swimming the 400 IM, 200 free, and 1500 free.

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Maplebear
1 year ago

What an incredible talent
Very bright future for men’s canadian swimming

Stephen Strange
1 year ago

This kid range and excellence is incredible.

I hope he develop well.

BCSwimDad
1 year ago

Future Superstar of swimming. What a joy to watch him swim.

About Yanyan Li

Yanyan Li

Although Yanyan wasn't the greatest competitive swimmer, she learned more about the sport of swimming by being her high school swim team's manager for four years. She eventually ventured into the realm of writing and joined SwimSwam in January 2022, where she hopes to contribute to and learn more about …

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