2025 ONTARIO JUNIOR INTERNATIONAL
- December 11-14, 2025
- Toronto, Ontario
- Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre
- SCM (25 meters)
- Results
Five Canadian Age Group Records in breaststroke events went down over the weekend at the 2025 Ontario Junior International meet in Toronto, with Oliver Dawson and Shima Taghavi taking center stage.
Dawson, 17, reset the Canadian NAG records for 15-17 boys in all three breaststroke distances, moving up to #2 all-time in national history across the board.
On the second day of the meet, Dawson clocked 58.13 in the prelims of the 100 breast, lowering his previous NAG record of 58.54 set in October at the Toronto World Cup.
Then, in the final, Dawson blasted his way to a time of 57.64, breaking his hours-old NAG record by nearly half a second while becoming the third Canadian ever under 58 seconds, ranking #2 all-time behind Paul Kornfeld (57.10).
All-Time Canadian Performers, Men’s 100 Breaststroke (SCM)
- Paul Kornfeld, 57.10 – 2009
- Oliver Dawson, 57.64 – 2025
- Finlay Knox, 57.90 – 2024
- Mathieu Bois, 58.22 – 2009
- Richard Funk, 58.35 – 2016
The following day, Dawson made some noise in the 200 breast, dominating the final in a time of 2:05.77 to slash nearly two seconds off his NAG record of 2:07.61 set at the 2024 SC World Championships.
The Grand Prairie Piranha swimmer moved up from 6th to 2nd all-time in Canada, again only trailing Kornfeld’s super-suited record.
All-Time Canadian Performers, Men’s 200 Breaststroke (SCM)
- Paul Kornfeld, 2:03.26 – 2009
- Oliver Dawson, 2:05.77 – 2025
- James Dergousoff, 2:06.17 – 2022
- Mike Brown, 2:07.06 – 2011
- Morgan Knabe, 2:07.15 – 2002
On the final day, Dawson made it three-for-three in NAG records in the 50 breast–though it’s worth noting stroke 50 records are currently tracked as 18 & under records, rather than 15-17.
Dawson went 26.97 in the prelims, breaking the two-week-old record of 27.05 set by Lucas Morin in late November, and then got down to 26.43 in the final, putting him just 13 one-hundredths shy of Finlay Knox‘s National Record.
All-Time Canadian Performers, Men’s 50 Breaststroke (SCM)
- Finlay Knox, 26.30 – 2025
- Oliver Dawson, 26.43 – 2025
- Javier Acevedo, 26.47 – 2024
- Apollo Hess, 26.63 – 2022
- Paul Kornfeld, 26.69 – 2009
Two other NAG records fell at the meet on the girls’ side, with 13-year-old Taghavi incredibly doing so despite being in the younger half of the 13-14 age group.
Taghavi, a member of Hyack Swim Club, clocked 1:07.78 in the girls’ 100 breast, breaking Halle West‘s 13-14 NAG record of 1:08.09 from 2023 while placing 2nd overall in the final behind Grand Prairies Piranha’s Marley Monsen (1:07.62).
Taghavi’s previous PB stood at 1:08.75, set at this meet last year, which currently stands as the 11-12 NAG record.
In the 200 breast, Taghavi clocked 2:25.52 to break the 37-year-old NAG record of 2:26.48 set by Allison Higson in 1988. However, as a 12-year-old Taghavi had been faster than Higson, going 2:25.75 at this meet last year to set the 11-12 NAG.
Despite being just 13, Taghavi won the 200 breast at OJI, with Pointe-Claire’s Kamila Blanchard the distant runner-up in 2:27.41.
Taghavi also set a pair of British Columbia Provincial Records for 13-14 girls, clocking 2:13.99 in the 200 IM and 4:40.12 in the 400 IM, ranking her 3rd and 2nd all-time in the 13-14 age group, respectively.
One of the top performers at the meet was Brock Niagara Aquatics’ Madison Kryger, a Tennessee commit in the high school class of 2026 who won six events and added one runner-up finish with five new best times.
Kryger, 17, most notably set a new best time of 56.98 in the 100 back, lowering her previous best of 57.23 to overtake Taylor Ruck (56.99) and rank #2 all-time in the girls’ 15-17 age group, only trailing Ashley McMillan (56.90).
In the 200 back, Kryger dropped six-tenths from her PB to clock 2:03.24, ranking her #3 all-time in the 15-17 age group behind Ruck (2:01.66) and Summer McIntosh (2:02.85).
Kryger also set new best times en route to wins in the 200 IM (2:10.03), 400 free (4:06.06) and 800 free (8:32.95), ranking her 10th, 11th and 17th all-time in the 15-17 age group, respectively. She also won the 50 back (27.05) and placed 2nd to Toronto Swim Club’s Leah Tigert (1:53.60) in the 200 free (1:56.84).
The swim for Tigert, also 17, ranks her 6th all-time in the 15-17 age group and 7th overall in Canada. Tigert also won the 50 free (24.68) and 100 free (53.17), moving to 5th and 4th all-time in the age group, respectively, and she was also the runner-up to Kryger in the 100 back (59.32), setting best times in every race.
OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
- Natation Gatineau’s Anton Semenyuk set a pair of new Quebec Provincial Records in both the senior and 17-year-old boys’ categories in the 200 fly and 200 IM, putting up respective times of 1:54.62 and 1:56.93. Semenyuk now ranks 2nd all-time in the 15-17 age group and 9th overall in Canadian history in both races. He also set new Quebec age records in the 100 free (48.76), 50 fly (24.20) and 100 fly (52.36), and walked away with wins in all but the 50 fly at the meet.
- Club Aquatique Montreal’s Simon Fonseca set new Quebec Provincial Records for 17-year-old boys in four events, claiming victories in the 200 free (1:46.60), 400 free (3:48.39), 800 free (7:54.79) and 1500 free (15:05.50). He now ranks 8th, 10th, 8th and 7th all-time in the boys’ 15-17 age group, respectively.
- Killarney Swim Club’s Alan Piatek set a new Alberta Provincial Record for 16-year-old boys in the 50 back, clocking 24.39 en route to placing 2nd to Cascade’s Parker Deshayes (24.26). In the 50 fly, Piatek set another Alberta record in 24.50, with Deshayes also winning that event in 23.87.
- Piatek’s Killarney teammate, Matea Gigovic, set a new Provincial Record in the girls’ 50 fly, setting a new benchmark for 17-year-old girls in 26.51. Gigovic won the event for the second straight year, having set a new 16-year-old record last year in 26.31.
- A pair of Manitoba Provincial Records fell for 15-17 boys in the stroke 50 events, with Manta Swim Club’s Chukwurimnso Nkechika setting a new mark in the 50 back (26.47), and his teammate Addison Bailey-Ross hitting a new record in the 50 fly (24.80).
- Bathurst Piranhas Swim Club’s Zachary Newman set a new New Brunswick Provincial Record in the boys’ 15-17 50 breast, clocking 29.33.
- Pacific Sea Wolves’ Mary Jibb broke four Para world records at the competition, setting new marks in the women’s S9 100 free (1:01.71), 200 free (2:13.53), 50 back (31.18) and 400 IM (5:24.46). She also set new Canadian Para Records in the 50 fly S9 (31.29) and 200 IM S(2:30.46).
- Alyssa Smith of the Orangeville Otters set a new Para world record in the women’s S13 200 fly, clocking 2:29.02.
- Whitby Swimming’s Aly Van Wyck-Smart set a trio of Canadian Para records in the women’s S3 50 free (1:08.62), 100 free (2:23.70) and 50 back (1:09.58).
Canada,s mens medley relay team of Tierney,Karun,Liendo and Dawson are all improving.Wonder how high they will rise by 2028.
We need a better backstroker, that’s one thing for sure. Either Tierney improves a lot, or someone needs to step in. We 100% have a chance to medal in LA for the Medley.
if tierney can get a few tenths faster than his 52.9, and dawson keeps improving, they’ll be able to keep it close for kharun and liendo who are as good as anyone. I think there’s a pretty good chance at a medal
Yes! The rise of Tierney and Dawson have vaulted them into a darkhorse position. If those 2 can progress to:
52.5 + 59.0 splits, then add the already established 49.5 + 46.9 legs from Ilya and Josh, you’re looking at 327.9… Which doesn’t account for hopefully flight improvement still from the latter 2.