Summer McIntosh's third gold in Singapore moves her closer to Phelps' record

National Post

4 days ago

Canadian swimming sensation Summer McIntosh won her third gold of the Singapore world championships on Thursday in the 200-metre butterfly, coming within two tenths of a second of setting a world record in the event.
McIntosh completed the race in 2 minutes, 1.99 seconds, just behind the world mark of 2:01.81 set by Liu Zige of China in 2009.
Still, the second-fastest time in history was more than enough to beat Regan Smith of America, who placed second at 2:04.99, and Australia's Elizabeth Dekkers, who was third with 2:06.12.
It also moved McIntosh a step closer to match Michael Phelps' record. He is the only swimmer in history to win five individual titles at a single world championships. McIntosh has already won the 400-metre freestyle and the 200-metre individual medley in Singapore.
Coincidentally, she announced this year that after Singapore she plans to move to Austin, Texas, to train with Bob Bowman, Phelps' former coach. McIntosh also has a cat named Mikey, in honour of Phelps and his record as the world's most decorated Olympian (28 medals, 23 of them gold).
'I was so close, that's what upsets me a little bit,' McIntosh told CBC after Thursday's race. 'It was so close and I know that last 15 metres I took an extra breath and I should've had my head down.'
She added: 'This is definitely going to fuel me for next season, so it leaves a little bit more fuel in the tank and really get closer and closer to that record. If there's one world record that I wanted to break since the start of my career it's this one.'
The swimmer, who turns 19 in August, has already been having an amazing summer, even before Singapore. In June she broke two world records in three days at the Canadian swimming trials.
McIntosh swam the 200-metre individual medley there in 2 minutes and 5.7 seconds, breaking the previous record of 2:06.12 set by Hungary's Katinka Hosszu in 2015. And she completed the 400-metre freestyle in 3:54.18, shaving more than a second off the old record of 3:55.38 set by Ariarne Titmus of Australia.
'I've been knocking on the door on this one,' she told the Associated Press, referring to the 200-metre race. 'I've just tried to chip away, chip away at it. To finally do it, it's kind of like, wow, I've finally got that done.'
'I'm really trying to take it one race at a time,' she added. 'Really kind of cruising the heats and then coming to every final super locked in and focused.'
Next up for McIntosh is the 800-metre freestyle Saturday, where she will square off against American legend Katie Ledecky, the world record holder. McIntosh early in her career had a swim cap once worn by Ledecky, who has 10 Olympic medals, seven of them gold.
If McIntosh takes gold there, Sunday's 400-metre individual medley could offer a chance to match Phelps' record of five.
McIntosh, the daughter of another Canadian Olympic swimmer, Jill Horstead, was at 14 the youngest member of the Canadian team selected for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics in 2021. The Toronto native took fourth place in the 400-metre freestyle that year.
A year later, in her World Aquatics Championships debut in Budapest, McIntosh won the 200-metre butterfly and the 400-metre individual medley, breaking the world junior record in both.
She went on to win six medals at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham just weeks later, and last year she won three gold medals at the Paris Olympics in her three individual events of the 400 and 200 individual medleys and the 200 butterfly. She also won silver in the 400 free.