For Summer McIntosh, a record swim and fourth gold to cap superb world championships
McIntosh entered the meet in Singapore hoping to equal Michael Phelps' record of five individual golds, set in 2007. She came up just a few seconds short, fading down the stretch of an incredible women's 800-meter freestyle race on Saturday and taking bronze there.
Otherwise, she was flawless in winning the 200-meter butterfly, 400-meter freestyle, and the 200- and 400-meter IMs. The four golds still put in her in elite company. Aside from Phelps, only Americans Caeleb Dressel (2019), Katie Ledecky (2015) and Ryan Lochte (2011) have ever won that many individual medals at a world championships.
Australia's Jenna Forrester and Japan's Mio Narita tied for silver behind McIntosh, both finishing in 4:33.26, more than seven seconds behind.
McIntosh's aggressive week started last Sunday, when she outdueled Ledecky and China's Li Bingjie to win gold in the 400 freestyle. A day later, she won the 200 IM, then the 200 butterfly on Thursday.
That set up Saturday's showdown with Ledecky in the 800 freestyle. In a race Ledecky has dominated for over a decade, McIntosh took the lead heading into the 700-meter turn, but she couldn't keep up with the American star over the last 100 and ended up finishing third behind Ledecky and Australian Lani Pallister.
She had no such issues Sunday in one of her signature events. She won the last two world championships in which she competed, in 2022 and 2023, and took Olympic gold in the event last summer. She won three individual golds in Paris, also in the 200 butterfly and 200 IM.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
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