McIntosh wins again at swimming worlds as Yu, 12, just misses out

New Straits Times

28-07-2025

SINGAPORE: Summer McIntosh bagged her second title at the swimming world championships as Gretchen Walsh defied illness to win gold and 12-year-old Yu Zidi narrowly missed out on a medal on Monday.
The 18-year-old McIntosh romped home in the 400m freestyle on Sunday's opening night in Singapore and gave another demonstration of her huge talent a day later in the 200m individual medley.
She came home in 2min 06.69sec, with Alex Walsh of the United States second (2:08.58) and Canada's Mary-Sophie Harvey third (2:09.15).
"Going into the race tonight my goal was to put my head on the wall first, so to get that done is good," said the Canadian phenomenon.
"I'm not super-happy with the time, but honestly, at a world championship, my goal is just to go as fast as I can."
McIntosh will also race in the 400m medley, 200m butterfly and 800m freestyle in Singapore.
She is on track to join Michael Phelps as the only swimmer to win five individual titles at a single world championships.
"Still happy with the gold and hoping to keep up my streak next time," she said.
Yu was fourth in 2:09.21 in her first world championships final, having been fastest off the blocks and in third place before fading a little.
The schoolgirl will also compete in Singapore in the 400m medley and 200m butterfly.
"She's obviously phenomenally talented at such a young age and I think it will be interesting to see how she takes this meet," silver medallist Walsh said of the Chinese prodigy.
A "fragile" Gretchen Walsh shook off a stomach bug to power to a dominant victory in the 100m butterfly.
The world record holder took gold in 54.73sec – the second-fastest time in history – ahead of Belgium's Roos Vanotterdijk (55.84) and Alexandria Perkins of Australia (56.33).
The United States team has been hit with a bout of acute gastroenteritis and Walsh said she had been laid low heading into the race.
"The last couple of days my body has been fragile," said the 22-year-old.
"I've needed to give myself grace and luckily I had the morning to recover and rest and I used that.
"That helped me enormously going into tonight."
Walsh set the world record of 54.60sec in May.
She said she had to "reevaluate my expectations" for the world championships after her battle with illness but surprised herself with her performance.
"I'm over the moon," she said.
"I'm really happy that when it mattered, I was able to do that and get my hands on the wall."
China's Qin Haiyang set his sights on glory at Los Angeles 2028 after reeling in Olympic champion Nicolo Martinenghi to reclaim his 100m breaststroke crown.
Qin recovered from a slow start to win in 58.23sec, beating Italy's Martinenghi (58.58) and Kyrgyzstan's Denis Petrashov (58.88).
Qin swept all three breaststroke races at the 2023 world championships in Japan, breaking the 200m world record.
But he crashed and burned at last year's Paris Olympics, finishing seventh after leading the 100m breaststroke final at the turn.
"I have a lot of anticipation for LA 2028," said Qin, after the 26-year-old delivered China's first swimming medal of the championships.
France's Maxime Grousset came through at the death to win the 50m butterfly gold by a fingertip from Switzerland's Noe Ponti.
The fast and furious race will appear at the Olympics for the first time at Los Angeles. - AFP