Five SCM Masters World Records Broken At Ontario Masters Swimming Championships

2025 Ontario Masters Swimming Championships

• April 25-27, 2025
• Markham Pan Am Centre
• SCM (25 meters)
• Meet Central
• Live Results

Three swimmers put five new Masters World Records in the history books during the 2025 Ontario Masters Swimming Championships.

61-year-old Peter McKinnon got the ball rolling during the first full session of the meet, swimming a 29.19 in the 50-meter backstroke. The swim took a tenth off the men’s 60-64 age group world record, which McKinnon had set at 29.29 last May. McKinnon’s record-setting swim last May marked his first short-course Masters world record.

Now, he’s not only improved his world-leading mark in the 50-meter backstroke, he’s taken over the 100-meter backstroke record as well. Later in the meet, McKinnon doubled down on the backstroke world records, swimming a 1:03.06. The swim shaves five-hundredths off his age group’s world record in the event, bettering the 1:03.15 the U.S.’s Jamie Fowler swam in 2019.

McKinnon swept the backstroke events for his age group at the championships, swimming an Ontario record of 2:19.80 in the 200-meter backstroke. The swim smashed the regional record that had been on the books since 2001 per Swimming Canada, though McKinnon is over two seconds away from owning all three backstroke world records for his age group. Fowler still holds the 200-meter backstroke record for the age group at 2:17.15.

Dan Thompson, 69, followed a similar pattern to McKinnon at these championships. While McKinnon dominates the backstroke events, Thompson specializes in butterfly. He came into the championships as the men’s 65-69 world record holder in the 50 butterfly (27.94).

First, he took over the age group’s 100 butterfly world record, swimming 1:03.01. He hacked .84 seconds off Dutchman Hugo Bregman’s former world record as he nearly brought the standard sub-1:03 seconds. The next day, he improved on the 50 butterfly world record he swam two years ago with a 27.73.

On the women’s side, 65-year-old Judy Garay broke the 65-69 age group world record in the 50 breaststroke. The former record was the 38.90 swum in 2021 by Germany’s Dagmar Frese. Garay bettered the mark by .71 seconds, swimming 38.19.  Garay also won the 50 freestyle, 100 freestyle, and 100 breaststroke in her age group at the meet.