2023 ONTARIO JUNIOR INTERNATIONAL
- December 14-17, 2023
- Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Short Course Meters (25 meters), 18 & Under/Open Para Categories
- Live Stream
- Meet Central
- Live Results (or on the SplashMe app)
- Day 1 Recap
- Day 2 Recap
The University of Calgary Swim Club (UCSC) quartet of Aiden Norman (49.01), Laon Kim (48.81), Nicholas Duncan (50.11), and Paul Dardis (47.33) broke the club’s own Canadian boys’ 15-17 national age group (NAG) record in the 400 freestyle relay with a time of 3:15.26 to close out the penultimate finals session at the Ontario Junior International on Saturday night.
UCSC shaved more than a second off its previous record of 3:16.70 from last December, with the biggest drops coming from Kim’s second leg and Dardis’ anchor.
| UCSC, NEW NAG RECORD | UCSC, OLD NAG RECORD |
| Aiden Norman – 49.01 | Aiden Norman – 49.10 |
| Laon Kim – 48.81 | Lorne Wigginton – 50.08 |
| Nicholas Duncan – 50.11 | Addison Butler – 49.40 |
| Paul Dardis – 47.33 | Paul Dardis – 48.12 |
| 3:15.26 | 3:16.70 |
The Canadian boys’ 400 free relay record wasn’t the only record to fall on Saturday night. In the girls’ 50 free, 16-year-old Skye Carter held off 17-year-old Eva Okaro by just .01 seconds with a winning time of 24.80. Carter was just off Okaro’s British junior record of 24.77 from prelims, dropping a few tenths off her entry time of 25.13 from February.
Okaro returned to the pool for an impressive double in the 50 fly, winning the event in 26.79. That time was slightly slower than her 26.58 in prelims Saturday morning, which broke Lucy Grieve‘s British junior record of 26.69 from 2019.
In the boys’ 200 breast, 16-year-old Filip Nowacki broke another British junior record in the 200 breast, taking nearly two seconds off of his own standard from prelims with a winning time of 2:10.23. Before Nowacki went 2:12.11 in prelims this morning, the British junior record belonged to Callum Melville (2:12.89) in 2021. Nowacki dropped more than four seconds over the course of the day as his entry time was 2:14.79. On Friday, he brought the British junior record in the 100 breast under a minute down to 59.81.
Norman almost broke another NAG record individually in the 100 back as he captured the title in a personal-best time of 51.68. He dropped a couple tenths off his entry time, but he was still .11 seconds off the Canadian boys’ 15-17 NAG record of 51.57 by Cole Pratt in 2019.
In the girls’ 400 free, 18-year-old Ella Jansen placed 1st in 4:02.31, not far off her personal-best 4:01.87 from last October. At just 14 years old, Amelie Blocksidge earned a runner-up finish in 4:05.69, tying Freya Anderson‘s British junior record from 2016.
Other Day 3 Winners
- In the girls’ 100 back, 15-year-old Madison Kryger triumphed in 57.89, within a second of the Canadian girls’ 15-17 NAG record (56.90) by Ashley McMillan in 2021. Kryger came into the meet having been as fast as 59.45 last month before clocking a 58.91 in prelims.
- Ali Sayed dropped almost a second in the 50 free since last December, going from 22.75 to 21.85 for a 1st-place finish. The 17-year-old was still four-tenths off the Canadian boys’ 15-17 NAG record of 21.45 that Josh Liendo posted in 2019.
- Lucy Fox, 17, dropped nearly two seconds in the girls’ 200 fly to claim the crown in 2:08.78. Ella Jansen led prelims with a 2:09.60 this morning, but she scratched the final this evening. Max Malakhovets, 18, took the boys’ 200 fly title in 1:56.73 as the 18-year-old UPenn commit lowered his previous-best 1:57.64 from last December by almost a full second.
- Michigan commit Lorne Wigginton dropped almost three seconds in the boys’ 400 free en route to the victory in 3:44.60. The 18-year-old came into the meet with a personal-best time of 3:47.42 from last December.
- In the boys’ 50 fly, 18-year-old Chris Weeks won with a personal-best 23.42, dropping a couple tenths off his entry time of 23.64.
- British 17-year-old Charlotte Bianchi beat 15-year-old Halle West (2:25.69) by a second in the 200 breast with a personal-best 2:24.68. Bianchi dropped more than three seconds over the course of the day as she lowered her entry time of 2:28.15 down to 2:25.45 in prelims.
- In the girls’ 400 free relay, Team Britain (3:39.35) beat UCSC (3:43.55) by more than four seconds. Carter led off Team Britain’s relay in 54.87 before Sophie Davies (55.16), Theodora Taylor (55.41), and Okaro (53.91) brought it home.
Congrats to these boys! Worthy to note that Laon’s old club Hyack, where he was exceptionally developed, continues to role this fall.
At the Fastswim meet this weekend an 11 year old girl Shima broke the “12&u” National sc 200 Breast record going 2:29! So she’s still got another 12 months in this age group!!
This was actually also a club Rec formerly held by Courtney Chuy who had a brief teenage run on national teams late 90s before unfortunate injury.
Check hyackswimclub on Insta and Fastswim in Meet Mobile.
That’s awesome! Courtney’s breaststroke records as a young teen are so impressive. She’s a few years younger than me and I remember her being so fast at national youth meets.
There’s a handful of 15 year olds I’ve been really impressed with at this meet:
– Laon Kim (free)
– Oliver Dawson (breaststroke)
– Halle West (breaststroke)
– Madison Kryger (backstroke)
Paul Dardis and Ali Sayed (both 17) are both also swimming well in the free sprints.
Uhh it seems as though no one noticed, but a 14-year-old girl named Amelie Blocksidge went a 15:48.49 1500FR at this meet (splitting an 8:25.0 at the 800). Probably worth a mention, if not an article…
https://swimswam.com/amelie-blocksidge-14-breaks-british-junior-record-almost-gets-senior-record-at-oji/ 🙄
Yeah. Probably worth it.
https://swimswam.com/amelie-blocksidge-14-breaks-british-junior-record-almost-gets-senior-record-at-oji/
👍😁
I think it’s right to mention the 400 free women final won by Ella Jansen (4.02.31, nearly matched her PB), with great PBs from Amelie Blocksidge (4.05.69) and Phoebe Cooper (4.08.10).
Interesting also the race strategy: Jansen negative-split the race (2.01.57 at 200m), Blocksidge nearly even-split the race (2.02.55 at half point) while Cooper exactly even-split her 400 free (2.04.02 at 200m).
Blocksidge is getting better and better and she still has a lot to improve from a technical point of view.
I worry a bit about Ella, as her 400 free is stagnant since last year (her PB in 400 SC is more than a year old). This event is her best bet to make Canadian Olympic team, so I keep my fingers crossed
Eva Okaro swam 26.58 in the 50 fly heat, so that is the new British junior record
Other big swims happening in Canada this weekend. Emma Finlin set a senior national record in the 1500m in Edmonton at JP Fiset.
I noticed she took U of Kentucky out of her IG bio and didn’t sign a NLI. Do you happen to know what her plans are for next year?
Reid Maxwell set a national record in the S8 800 at the same meet as well. He might have a few others as well.