2023 Speedo Canadian Swimming Championships
- August 1-6, 2023
- Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre (TPASC)
- LCM (50 meters)
- Meet Central
- Psych Sheets
- Live Results
- Live Stream
Canadian age group sensation Laon Kim will be representing a new club at this week’s Canadian Swimming Championships in Toronto.
Kim, who has trained and competed with the Hyack Swim Club throughout his young career, will be wearing the University of Calgary Swim Club (UCSC) cap at the championships this week.
Multiple sources confirmed to SwimSwam that Kim has been training with UCSC for at least the past few weeks, and is giving the club a trial run as he ponders his options prior to next season.
UCSC is one of Canada’s biggest and most successful clubs, having topped the medal table at the 2022 Canadian Championships with 21 gold and 46 total medals. It also put four swimmers on the 2022 Junior Pan Pacific Championship team for Canada and qualified one swimmer, Lorne Wigginton, for the 2023 World Championships.
Over the past year, Kim has gone on a National Age Group Record breaking tear in the boys’ 13-14 age group, now holding every single freestyle record in both short course and long course outside of the SCM 1500, which belongs to Olympic champion Alex Baumann.
Kim also holds the 13-14 NAG in the LCM 400 IM, and the SCM 200 fly, 200 IM and 400 IM.
Laon Kim‘s NAG Records, 13-14 Age Group
- 50 free LCM – 23.55
- 100 free LCM – 51.05
- 200 free LCM – 1:52.39
- 400 free LCM – 3:56.79
- 800 free LCM – 8:17.16
- 1500 free LCM – 15:56.21
- 400 IM LCM – 4:31.72
- 50 free SCM – 22.61
- 100 free SCM – 50.30
- 200 free SCM – 1:48.50
- 400 free SCM – 3:54.19
- 800 free SCM – 8:05.12
- 200 fly SCM – 2:00.57
- 200 IM SCM – 2:00.93
- 400 IM SCM – 4:21.08
In addition to his individual records, Kim also contributed to Hyack breaking all five SCM relay records in the 13-14 age group in the summer of 2021.
Hyack is based out of Coquitlam, British Columbia, and has sent 11 swimmers to this week’s Canadian Championships (for context, UCSC has sent 43, the most of any club).
Kim has aged up and is now 15, so he’ll have a new set of NAG records to chase beginning this week (though Swimming Canada’s next age group is 15-17).
Kim is entered in the 50, 100, 200, 400 and 800 free this week in Toronto.
In the opening event of the meet on Tuesday, he qualified first into the final of the boys’ 14-15 400 free in a time of 4:03.17.
Coach Lenny falls out with top Hyack athletes and parents they are all loosing trust. This move happened quick and behind the scenes.
That’s a fact
Too bad. Coach Lenny and Hyack were great for his rapid development. Hyack not nearly as big as UCSC of course, but they do have a very strong high school aged group as noted by their recent BC Prov relay records amongst other metrics.
15-17 NAG in 4×100 Free… likely could have scraped it by without Kim, instead -4 seconds 🦖
UCSC has the best age group coaching in Canada.Laon Kim is going to be a star…..good move.
Certainly the best at DQs. Must have set a record at csc’s last night.