A clash of eras: Summer McIntosh is trying to slay the swimming queen — and Katie Ledecky knows it
Aug. 1, 2025
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By Bruce ArthurColumnist
Bruce Arthur is a columnist for the Star. Follow him on Twitter: @bruce_arthur.
SINGAPORE— Summer McIntosh is trying to kill the queen. She won't say that, of course, but that's what this is. Canada's 18-year-old wunderkind says she is excited to race Katie Ledecky in Ledecky's race on Saturday night at the world championships, and of course she is. But McIntosh needs challenges the way most people need air.
So McIntosh is trying to defeat the greatest female swimmer ever at the height of her powers, in a race Ledecky doesn't lose, in front of the world. The 28-year-old Ledecky has lost the 800 freestyle once since she was 13 years old, to McIntosh at a relatively minor Florida meet last year. Ledecky then broke her own world record in May this year, swimming 8:04.12. She hadn't broken that mark since the Rio Olympics in 2016, and afterwards, she wept.
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