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CBC
30-07-2025
- Sport
- CBC
Summer McIntosh is staring down another world record — but will she go for it?
We know now that world records can fall at the swimming world championships in Singapore. French superstar Leon Marchand crushed the men's 200-metre individual medley mark during Wednesday's semifinals at WCH Arena, lowering American Ryan Lochte's 1:54-flat record all the way to 1:52.69. It was the first world record to fall at this meet, and it leaves us wondering just how fast the four-time Olympic champion might go in Thursday's final. There was some thought, too, that Canada's Summer McIntosh might aim for a longstanding world record (and the $30,000 US that comes with it) of her own in today's 200 butterfly semifinal. Instead, she turned on autopilot, cruising to victory in her heat at a relatively slow 2:06.22 — about four seconds off the Canadian-record pace she set at national trials in June. Watch the full semi here. McIntosh will compete for her third gold medal of the meet in the 200 fly on Thursday at 7:02 a.m. ET, with live coverage on and CBC Gem. As is often the case with the three-time Olympic champion, the question for McIntosh is as much about whether she can win the race as it is about if she can crack the world record in the process. The mark, which is currently held by China's Liu Zige at 2:01.81, was set under somewhat strange circumstances in 2009 as Liu took nearly two full seconds off the previous mark while wearing the infamous Speedo LZR Racer, a performance-enhancing supersuit that was already banned in the U.S., and whose worldwide ban was set to take effect three months after Liu's race. That confluence of events means Liu's record has felt nearly untouchable for the past 16 years — it is, in fact, the oldest women's swimming world record. Summer McIntosh wins world title in 400m freestyle 3 days ago In June, however, McIntosh threatened Liu's mark with the second-fastest time ever of 2:02.26. And then she said she had more left to give. "I think my last stroke was just a little bit wonky, so I think I have at least point-one, point-two in that alone. I can definitely find the other little bits and pieces throughout the race," McIntosh told CBC Sports' Devin Heroux at the time. "The fact that I'm knocking on the door on that world record is really, really encouraging because that's the world record that I never thought I would even come close to." Everything seemed to line up for McIntosh — who set three other world records at trials and is now pursuing the feat of five individual gold medals achieved only by American superstar Michael Phelps in 2007 — to take two shots at another longstanding mark. Instead, she let her first chance in the semis float away — an interesting contrast to her future training partner Marchand, who wrecked Lochte's record minutes later. "Going into tonight I know I just needed to get into the final and use the least energy possible," McIntosh said. "I really just did not try the first 100, and then gave a little bit of a kick just to get my head on the wall first." Heroux and CBC Sports swimming analyst Brittany MacLean Campbell had a fascinating conversation about McIntosh's race strategy in the latest episode of The Ready Room, which you can watch here: WATCH | Will Summer McIntosh go for the 200m fly world record?: Why didn't Summer McIntosh push for world record in 200 fly semi? | The Ready Room 4 hours ago On Day 4, French phenom Leon Marchand set a world record in his semifinal of the men's 200 fly, which had The Ready Room host Brittany MacLean Campbell wondering why Summer McIntosh didn't push for the same in her women's 200 fly semi? One key difference between McIntosh and Marchand: the latter eased off his program at these worlds after what he called a tough post-Olympic year. McIntosh, on the other hand, is chasing that Phelps mark with a loaded, though still carefully curated, schedule. And she may already be looking ahead to Saturday's 800 freestyle showdown against another American great in Katie Ledecky, which is likely her biggest challenge in climbing the five-gold mountain. The Canadian beat Ledecky in the 400 freestyle to begin worlds, but Ledecky fired back with a warning shot in the 1,500 yesterday as she posted an astounding 8:09.95 split at the 800 mark — a time McIntosh has only beaten once in her career (though she did it handily in June at 8:05.07). The 800 is also a new-ish race for McIntosh. She hasn't swam it at worlds or the Olympics since 2021, when she was 11th and missed the final in Tokyo. It is possible that everything before that Saturday morning duel (8:17 a.m. ET) is mere preparation for the Canadian. So what does that mean for the 200 butterfly? Well, it's hard to go anything less than 100 per cent in a world-championship final. But McIntosh won Olympic gold in the event last summer at 2:03.03. She pointed to American Regan Smith as her top competitor in the semifinal, and Smith's personal best is 2:03.84. Australia's Elizabeth Dekkers, who posted the fastest semi-final time, has a personal best of 2:05.20. WATCH | McIntosh wins 200m IM at worlds: On day two of the swimming world championships, Summer McIntosh collected her second gold medal in Singapore, and teammate Mary-Sophie Harvey joined her on the podium winning bronze. Brittany MacLean Campbell and Devin Heroux tell you everything you need to know from the pool in Singapore. It all means McIntosh probably doesn't have to threaten Liu's record to win gold. Then again, it would still be massively risky not to go all out for her third victory of the meet — and when the 18-year-old goes all out, even the oldest record in the sport can be broken. In other record-breaking news, Canada picked up its fourth medal in the pool — and fifth overall — by taking bronze in the 4x100 mixed medley relay. A team of Russian athletes won gold, while China took silver. Olympic champion U.S. missed out on the final after struggling to the 10th-best time in heats. The Canadian team of Kylie Masse, Taylor Ruck, Josh Liendo and 17-year-old Oliver Dawson raced to a national-record time of 3:40.90 to earn a somewhat surprising podium appearance, especially considering the absence of relay ace Penny Oleksiak. Liendo's blistering butterfly leg of 49.64 seconds lifted the Canadians back into medal contention, and Ruck's anchoring freestyle (52.94) lap secured their spot on the podium. Watch the full race here. For Masse, it marked her 16th consecutive major meet with a medal and brought her back into a tie with McIntosh — for the time being — for most world podiums by a Canadian with 10. On the flip side, the bronze marked the first of Dawson's career. On deck * Canada's Ilya Kharun went out quickly but couldn't hold on in the men's 200 butterfly, ultimately finishing fourth. Breakout American star Luca Urlando won gold. Watch the full race here. Kharun, the two-time Olympic bronze medallist, will have one more shot to return home with some hardware when he goes head-to-head against Liendo in the 100 butterfly (semis on Friday at 7:10 a.m. ET; final on Saturday at 7:40 a.m. ET). * Masse will be back in the pool for the 50 backstroke final alongside Ingrid Wilm on Thursday at 7:56 a.m. ET after the Canadian duo qualified with the fifth- and sixth-best times, respectively, in the semifinals. Masse won gold in the 50 at the 2022 worlds and finished fourth a year later. How to watch You can stream live action from the World Aquatics Championships on and CBC Gem, with additional weekend coverage on CBC TV. See the full streaming and broadcast schedules for details.
Forbes
28-07-2025
- Sport
- Forbes
Gretchen Walsh Overcomes Illness To Win First Individual World Title
Singapore, Singapore - July 28: Gold for Gretchen Walsh of USA during the medal ceremony after ... More competing in the Women 100m Butterfly Final Swimming event on day 18 of the Singapore 2025 World Aquatics Championships at WCH Arena on July 28, 2025 in Singapore. (Photo by Albert ten Hove/Marcel ter Bals/DeFodi Images/DeFodi via Getty Images) What a difference a day made for Gretchen Walsh. Twenty-four hours after being pulled from the women's 4x100-meter freestyle relay at the 2025 World Aquatic Championships due to illness, she won her first individual long-course world title, getting her hands on the wall first in the women's 100-meter butterfly. In the final, Walsh, 22, challenged the world record she swam in May at the TYR Pro Swim in Fort Lauderdale, an in-season meet and Walsh's first as a professional swimmer. She stopped the clock for gold at 54.73 in Singapore, just .13 seconds away from her world record. The time is a championship record and the event's second-fastest performance in history. 'I'm over the moon,' Walsh told World Aquatics after the race. 'I'm really happy that when it mattered, I was able to do that and just get my hands on the wall.' During the first finals session at the competition on Sunday, Walsh qualified for the final in the 100-meter butterfly but pulled out of the women's 4x100-meter freestyle relay final that concluded the session. 'I wanted to be on it so bad, but my body would not let me,' Walsh said in an interview with NBC Sports after her record-setting swim. 'I took the morning to rest, recover, knowing tonight was going to be a fight for me. I'm so happy with the result.' A spokesperson for USA Swimming confirmed on Sunday that the American team is dealing with 'acute gastroenteritis' that began affecting swimmers at the team's pre-meet training camp in Phuket, Thailand. USA Swimming did not confirm which swimmers were affected, but Walsh was not alone in pulling out of races on the first day of the competition. Torri Huske, the reigning 100-meter butterfly Olympic champion, pulled out of the event before the preliminary heats, though she raced on the women's 4x100-meter freestyle relay. Claire Weinstein, another Olympian, skipped the 400-meter freestyle. On Monday, the United States was still looking for its first gold medal of the championships after getting shut out on the first night of racing. With illness making the rounds, the team needed a spark. Walsh's medal provided just that. It is also a pivotal moment in her career. Walsh has been one of the most successful swimmers in history in the short-course yards and meters pool, but it took a while for her to find her footing in long-course meters. She had her major breakout in long-course meters last summer when she first took over the 100-meter butterfly world record at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials. It made her the heavy favorite for Olympic gold in Paris, but her teammate Huske was able to pass her in the Olympic final and the Americans went 1-2 on the podium with Walsh earning silver. NANTERRE, FRANCE - JULY 28: Gold Medalist Torri Huske (L) and Silver Medalist Gretchen Walsh (R) of ... More Team United States pose following the Swimming medal ceremony after the Women's 100m Butterfly Final on day two of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 at Paris La Defense Arena on July 28, 2024 in Nanterre, France. (Photo by) Since the 2024 Olympics, Walsh has continued to showcase her speed as she rewrote the record books in short-course meters and yards in a range of events during her final year as a University of Virginia collegiate swimmer. But there were still boxes to check. Her 100-meter butterfly gold medal tonight marks the first time she has stood atop the podium at the Olympic or World Championship level in an individual event. Bringing the 100-meter butterfly world record to new heights—no other female swimmer has broken 55 seconds in the event—has brought a new type of pressure to deliver when the lights are brightest. And despite illness, she rose to that challenge. 'Having that title as the world record holder is a lot of pressure,' she acknowledged to World Aquatics. 'But I feel like I've gotten used to knowing that that's my best time, and that's just kind of what I have to shoot for every time I dive in.' 'I've gotten more and more comfortable with it [the pressure],' she continued. 'And even going into tonight, I knew that maybe it wasn't going to be a world record, but any time I would have been happy with if I touched first, because at meets like this, that's what matters most.' Walsh is also entered in the 50-meter freestyle, 100-meter freestyle, and 50-meter butterfly at the competition and is a medal threat in all three events. The 2025 World Aquatic Championships run through Sunday, August 3.
Business Times
16-06-2025
- Sport
- Business Times
How an empty car park became a world-class swimming arena in under six months
[SINGAPORE] The task was as daunting as any that Ko Chee Wah, the chairman of Kin Productions, had faced in his long career. In less than six months, his company had to construct, from scratch, a purpose-built facility that would be the main venue for this year's World Aquatics Championships (WCH) in Singapore, which will take place over three weeks from Jul 11. The WCH Arena, as it is now called, is located on the site of a former open-air car park next to the Leisure Park Kallang mall, a short walk from the National Stadium. The sheltered arena can accommodate up to 4,800 spectators and will be where most of the 2,500 athletes from nearly 200 countries and territories will compete. The competition features six aquatic disciplines: swimming, diving, high diving, open water swimming, artistic swimming and water polo. Construction began in January, with foundation work starting a month earlier. The completion of the WCH Arena is on time to hold a test event (the South-east Asian Age Group Aquatics Championships) later this week, followed by the WCH itself next month. The arena will also host the World Aquatics Masters Championships' swimming and water polo events from Jul 26 to Aug 22. Speaking to reporters during a tour of the arena on Monday (Jun 16), Ko said this was one of his agency's most challenging projects to date. A NEWSLETTER FOR YOU Friday, 2 pm Lifestyle Our picks of the latest dining, travel and leisure options to treat yourself. Sign Up Sign Up 'After we won the tender, we were told we had to deliver the contract in a maximum of six months. (The site was) an empty car park of about 250,000 square feet, and we had to build this big facility for the public and athletes – one that meets international safety standards and conforms to all the regulatory requirements,' he said. Kin Productions chairman Ko Chee Wah said the construction and delivery of the new WCH Arena was one of his company's most challenging projects to date. PHOTO: WCH There were other issues to deal with too, such as the frequent bouts of inclement weather in the first few weeks of the year that caused some delays to the building process. Long before the design and construction began, Ko and his team also accompanied officials from national sports agency Sport Singapore and governing body Singapore Aquatics on visits to major swimming events in cities such as Fukuoka and Doha, to study how such international meets were staged. One of the key features of the WCH Arena is how the seats have been positioned at a 32-degree angle, meant to give spectators a much better viewing experience. The seats for other events in Singapore are usually at the standard 17-degree angle. The competition pool holds 3.9 million litres of water, which is kept at a constant temperature between 25 and 28 degrees Celsius. It took an entire week to fill the pool. Former national swimmer Mark Chay, the co-chair of the WCH Singapore organising committee, said that discussions are still ongoing as to what will happen to the arena – which was built as a temporary facility – after the competition is over. There is some talk that Singapore Aquatics could make use of the arena to prepare for competitions, such as the next SEA Games that Singapore will host in 2029. When asked about the final cost to build the arena and whether it was within budget, Chay chose not to disclose any figures at this point. He would only let on that what the government spent was 'comparable' to what it cost Fukuoka and Doha to stage the World Aquatic Championships in 2023 and 2024, respectively. 'We looked at the cost of (what those two cities spent) and we did our own assessments. For those championships, they built temporary venues for all the events. In Singapore, we are using the existing OCBC Aquatics Centre, and we built this WCH Arena. We are having some events at Sentosa too,' said Chay. On Monday, it was also announced that Singtel is the official connectivity partner of the WCH 2025. The telco will provide 'seamless, secure and high-performance connectivity' across multiple competition venues, said Singtel Singapore chief executive officer Ng Tian Chong.
