McIntosh and Marchand dazzle for gold at world championships
Romania's David Popovici also flirted with a record on day five at the World Aquatics Championships Arena, the 20-year-old claiming a thrilling 100 metres freestyle gold to go with his 200 crown on day three.
The 200 butterfly world record of 2:01.81 set by China's Liu Zige in 2009 is the last surviving mark from the supersuit era in women's swimming -- and McIntosh all but took it down.
She stormed to her third individual gold medal of the meet in 2:01.99, the second-fastest swim of all time and a yawning three seconds better than American silver medallist Regan Smith.
Having made the last turn under world record pace the Canadian 18-year-old flagged slightly coming home and shouted an expletive when she spied the clock.
"I know that I messed up the last 15 metres of my race," she said. "Overall, happy with the time and a PB, but I didn't reach my goal tonight."
China's 12-year-old marvel Yu Zidi finished just off the podium again having also placed fourth in the 200 IM.
McIntosh might console herself in the knowledge that her bid for five individual titles remains intact, with the 400 IM and a hugely anticipated showdown with American great Katie Ledecky in the 800 freestyle still to come.
Only Michael Phelps has won five individual golds at a world championships.
Marchand, dubbed the "French Phelps", celebrated a world record on Wednesday when he blitzed the long-standing 200 IM mark of Ryan Lochte with an incredible swim of 1:52.69 in the semifinals.
With victory seemingly assured in the final the only suspense was whether Marchand might reset his world record from the previous night but he ended up nearly a second short, with a time of 1:53.68.
It was still the second fastest swim ever and led to a dominant win by 0.62 seconds ahead of American Shaine Casas and Hungarian Hubert Kos. Marchand said the record may have taken a bit out of him but he was hardly complaining.
"I felt so excited yesterday that I couldn't sleep," he said. "So I think I lost a lot of energy yesterday night, but it was my goal to break the record, so I was really happy with it."
Popovici then emerged the winner of a sensational men's 100 freestyle final, clocking 46.51 to give Pan Zhanle's world record (46.40) a big scare.
American runner-up Jack Alexy also broke the 47-second barrier (46.92), while Paris Games silver medallist Kyle Chalmers took the bronze for Australia.
At 20, 200 Olympic champion Popovici has already completed the 100-200 sweep twice at world championships, having done the double at Budapest three years ago.
The relaxed Romanian said he had reached a higher plain; no longer worried about winning or losing.
"I just feel very relieved that this huge pressure of being afraid of winning or losing is off me," he said.
"I don't mean it in an arrogant way, I mean it in a self-maturing way."
The United States celebrated a fourth gold in the meet as Katharine Berkoff won the 50 backstroke in 27.08 seconds, edging compatriot Smith.
In the finale of Thursday's programme, Australia's women clinched a second relay gold as Mollie O'Callaghan held off Ledecky in a thrilling final leg to guide her 4x200 freestyle relay team over the finish line.
Australia also won the men's and women's 4x100 freestyle golds on Sunday.
O'Callaghan, whose 11th gold tied her with Ian Thorpe as the most successful Australian at the world championships, will now look to add the 100 freestyle title to her 200 crown on Friday.
Medals will also be decided in the men's 200 breaststroke, 200 backstroke and 4x200 freestyle relay, as well as the women's 200 breaststroke.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Khaleej Times
a day ago
- Khaleej Times
McIntosh signs off from stellar world championships with fourth gold
Summer McIntosh capped a brilliant world championships with the 400 metres individual medley (IM) title and a fourth individual gold medal while Leon Marchand roared to victory in the men's event in Singapore on Sunday. The United States set a world record in the women's 4x100 medley relay to claim the final title and ensure they topped the medals table with nine golds, one ahead of Australia. France finished third with Canada fourth, all four of their golds won by 18-year-old McIntosh, only the third swimmer to win five individual medals at a world championships, joining Michael Phelps (2007) and Sarah Sjostrom (2019). World record holder McIntosh blitzed the field in the 400 IM with a time of 4:25.78, more than seven seconds ahead of joint silver medallists Jenna Forrester of Australia and Japan's Mio Narita. The Olympic champion's third 400 IM world title added to her 200 IM, 200 butterfly and 400 freestyle golds at the World Aquatics Championships Arena in Singapore. But bronze in the 800 freestyle won by the great Katie Ledecky on Saturday gave McIntosh little joy. "I think it was very obvious that my goal was five golds," she said. "Even if I were to get five golds, I would still want more. That's just my mentality." China's 12-year-old prodigy Yu Zidi finished just off the podium again in the 400 IM, capping a sparkling debut at a global meeting. She was also fourth in the 200 IM and 200 butterfly. Olympic champion Marchand nearly missed the 400 IM final after a slow heat in the morning but was back to his best in the evening, clocking 4:04.73 to finish well clear of Japan's Tomoyuki Matsushita, the Paris Games runner-up. It was a stripped-back programme from Paris where Marchand won four individual titles but he made Singapore count, taking the 200 IM world record on the way to the title. Two years after Tunisia's Ahmed Hafnaoui won the 800 and 1,500 freestyle at the Fukuoka championships, compatriot Ahmed Jaouadi completed the double by winning the 1,500 in 14:34.41 on the final day ahead of German runner-up Sven Schwarz and American Olympic champion Bobby Finke. Jaouadi shaved nearly nine seconds off his personal best. Australian relay stalwart Meg Harris grabbed the spotlight for herself when she won 50 freestyle gold in 24.02 ahead of Chinese duo Wu Qingfeng (24.26) and Cheng Yujie (24.28). The 23-year-old Harris clinched her first individual title on the global stage after sharing two Olympic and five world relay golds in the last four years. No Russian athletes competed at last year's world championships in Doha but the nation's swimmers racked up medals in Singapore under a neutral flag. Russians were allowed to compete on condition they had not publicly supported the invasion of Ukraine or held any affiliation to the Russian military. Russian Kliment Kolesnikov stormed to the men's 50 backstroke title in 23.68, just 0.13 off his world record, while compatriot Pavel Samusenko took a silver along with South African Pieter Coetze, each finishing in 24.17. Russian swimmers then combined to win a shock gold in the men's 4x100 medley, giving the world record (3:26.78) a huge shake with a time of 3:26.93, a second clear of France. With the US men taking bronze it was up to the nation's women to secure top spot on the medals table in the final event of the night by beating Australia. They did just that and in some style, with Regan Smith, Kate Douglass, Gretchen Walsh and Torri Huske combining to set a world record of 3:49.34, improving on the US mark of 3:49.63 from the Paris Games. World record holder Ruta Meilutyte earlier powered to the 50 breaststroke gold in 29.55, nearly half a second clear of China's Tang Qianting. It was the Lithuanian's fourth successive world title in the event since returning from a two-year ban for anti-doping violations. Retiring American Lilly King, who won the 100 breaststroke at the Rio 2016 Games, bowed out fifth in her last individual event. King's teammates were proud of the US performance at the event after several of the team's swimmers suffered gastroenteritis from a pre-meeting camp in Thailand. "I'd say Team USA always knows how to finish with a bang," said Douglass. "It just sends a really positive message out to the viewers at home who didn't really believe in us."
Khaleej Times
4 days ago
- Khaleej Times
Too much too young?: Swimming's dilemma over 12-year-old schoolgirl
Swimming is a sport well used to talented teenagers, but Yu Zidi's participation aged 12 at the world championships has sparked debate about how young is too young. The prodigious Chinese schoolgirl is not just making up the numbers at the event in Singapore this week. Yu qualified for Monday's final of the 200m individual medley and came fourth, missing out on a remarkable medal by just 0.06sec in what is not considered her strongest event. The race was won by Canada's Summer McIntosh — she competed at the Tokyo Olympics as a 14-year-old and last summer in Paris won three golds at age 17. Yu was at it again on Wednesday in Singapore, racing alongside comparative veteran McIntosh to reach the finals of the 200m butterfly. Yu, who turns 13 in October, will also race in the 400m medley later this week. Like a fish in water The Chinese prodigy, who discovered swimming aged six as a way to cool off in China's roasting summers, has drawn historical comparisons to Inge Sorensen. At 12, the Dane was the youngest-ever winner of an Olympic swimming medal after her bronze at the Berlin Games of 1936. More recently, there was Bahrain's Alzain Tareq, who was 10 when she competed at the swimming world championships in Kazan, Russia, in 2015. Unlike Yu, however, she never came close to a medal. Asked this week if she was a 'genius', Yu replied: 'No, not really. It's all the result of hard training.' While Yu's performances have been impressive and could well yield a medal, not everyone thinks she should be competing in Singapore. Some in the sport have raised questions about the impact on Yu mentally and physically of high-level training and competing at an age when she is still developing as a person. Under current World Aquatics rules, the minimum age is 14 but younger swimmers can compete at the championships if — like Yu — they are fast enough. Christian Hansmann, sports director of German swimming, called her participation in Singapore 'questionable'. 'Putting a girl of 12 in front of a world championship crowd of 5,000 spectators, with the high pressure from the media and the coaches, is far too early in my opinion,' said Hansmann, who has children of a similar age. French swimmer Lilou Ressencourt admitted it '[upsets me] to be beaten by a girl 10 years younger than me', and said she was surprised by how fast Yu is at such a young age. Putting a girl of 12 in front of a world championship crowd of 5,000 spectators, with the high pressure from the media and the coaches, is far too early in my opinion" Christian Hansmann, Sports Director Of German Swimming She too fears for Yu's physical and mental well-being. 'I'm 22 and handling world championships, even French championships, can be difficult,' Ressencourt told AFP. 'I tell myself that at 12, you have a heavy responsibility... it's not normal at 12 to have that kind of pressure.' Yu's presence in Singapore could force a rethink of the rules at World Aquatics, the sport's governing body. Executive director Brent Nowicki admitted they had been surprised that someone as young as Yu had been fast enough to qualify. Nowicki said World Aquatics 'feel quite good about where we are with our safeguarding approach in our sport', but admitted that Yu could force a re-evaluation of its rules. 'She's great. I mean, there's a big future there for her. Hopefully, there could be good things that could happen out of this, and it could be great,' he said. But he added: 'Obviously we have to make sure that that's what it is, right? We don't want to tip that balance and go the other way, and we have to be careful about that.' Finding balance Many other sports have wrestled with the same age issue. In 2022, for instance, ice skating's governing body voted to raise the minimum age for senior competition from 15 to 17, months after an Olympics drug scandal involving Russian teenager Kamila Valieva. Katarina Witt, who was 18 when she won Olympic skating gold at the 1984 Sarajevo Games for East Germany, said the change was 'primarily protecting the female athletes from their sometimes over-ambitious managers'.
Khaleej Times
4 days ago
- Khaleej Times
McIntosh and Marchand dazzle for gold at world championships
Summer McIntosh came within a whisker of breaking a long-standing world record and Leon Marchand failed to improve on a new mark he set just a night earlier, but both young guns won gold medals at the world championships in Singapore on Thursday. Romania's David Popovici also flirted with a record on day five at the World Aquatics Championships Arena, the 20-year-old claiming a thrilling 100 metres freestyle gold to go with his 200 crown on day three. The 200 butterfly world record of 2:01.81 set by China's Liu Zige in 2009 is the last surviving mark from the supersuit era in women's swimming -- and McIntosh all but took it down. She stormed to her third individual gold medal of the meet in 2:01.99, the second-fastest swim of all time and a yawning three seconds better than American silver medallist Regan Smith. Having made the last turn under world record pace the Canadian 18-year-old flagged slightly coming home and shouted an expletive when she spied the clock. "I know that I messed up the last 15 metres of my race," she said. "Overall, happy with the time and a PB, but I didn't reach my goal tonight." China's 12-year-old marvel Yu Zidi finished just off the podium again having also placed fourth in the 200 IM. McIntosh might console herself in the knowledge that her bid for five individual titles remains intact, with the 400 IM and a hugely anticipated showdown with American great Katie Ledecky in the 800 freestyle still to come. Only Michael Phelps has won five individual golds at a world championships. Marchand, dubbed the "French Phelps", celebrated a world record on Wednesday when he blitzed the long-standing 200 IM mark of Ryan Lochte with an incredible swim of 1:52.69 in the semifinals. With victory seemingly assured in the final the only suspense was whether Marchand might reset his world record from the previous night but he ended up nearly a second short, with a time of 1:53.68. It was still the second fastest swim ever and led to a dominant win by 0.62 seconds ahead of American Shaine Casas and Hungarian Hubert Kos. Marchand said the record may have taken a bit out of him but he was hardly complaining. "I felt so excited yesterday that I couldn't sleep," he said. "So I think I lost a lot of energy yesterday night, but it was my goal to break the record, so I was really happy with it." Popovici then emerged the winner of a sensational men's 100 freestyle final, clocking 46.51 to give Pan Zhanle's world record (46.40) a big scare. American runner-up Jack Alexy also broke the 47-second barrier (46.92), while Paris Games silver medallist Kyle Chalmers took the bronze for Australia. At 20, 200 Olympic champion Popovici has already completed the 100-200 sweep twice at world championships, having done the double at Budapest three years ago. The relaxed Romanian said he had reached a higher plain; no longer worried about winning or losing. "I just feel very relieved that this huge pressure of being afraid of winning or losing is off me," he said. "I don't mean it in an arrogant way, I mean it in a self-maturing way." The United States celebrated a fourth gold in the meet as Katharine Berkoff won the 50 backstroke in 27.08 seconds, edging compatriot Smith. In the finale of Thursday's programme, Australia's women clinched a second relay gold as Mollie O'Callaghan held off Ledecky in a thrilling final leg to guide her 4x200 freestyle relay team over the finish line. Australia also won the men's and women's 4x100 freestyle golds on Sunday. O'Callaghan, whose 11th gold tied her with Ian Thorpe as the most successful Australian at the world championships, will now look to add the 100 freestyle title to her 200 crown on Friday. Medals will also be decided in the men's 200 breaststroke, 200 backstroke and 4x200 freestyle relay, as well as the women's 200 breaststroke.
