Canada’s Summer McIntosh strikes gold once more, closes in on historical past at swimming worlds

SINGAPORE — Make that three world championship gold medals for Canadian swimmer Summer McIntosh.

The 18-year-old from Toronto received the ladies’s 200-metre butterfly Thursday in a meet-record two minutes 1.99 seconds, which was simply shy of the world file of two:01.81.

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The Canadian touched the wall three seconds forward of silver medallist Regan Smith of the United States in 2:04.99, whereas Australia’s Elizabeth Dekkers claimed bronze in 2:06.12 in Singapore.

McIntosh’s swim was the quickest ever in a textile swimsuit and now ranks second all-time, trailing solely the world file set in 2009 by China’s Liu Zige in the course of the now-banned “super suit” period.

McIntosh, the Olympic gold medallist within the 200 fly final yr, additionally broke her “(Canadian record set in June’s trials.

She became the first Canadian to claim a trio of gold medals at a single world championship, as well as the first to win three world titles in the same event after victories in 2022 and 2023.

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McIntosh wasn’t entirely satisfied Thursday.

“(Winning) was the purpose getting into, however my different purpose tonight was to interrupt the world file, which regularly I don’t actually say or deal with, however to see how shut I used to be to breaking it and never getting it, I’m slightly bit pissed off,” McIntosh mentioned. “I can’t be too laborious on myself. It’s nonetheless a private finest time and I’m dropping time from a time I went simply over a month in the past.”

McIntosh also won the 200 individual medley and 400 freestyle earlier in the meet. She’s aiming for five individual titles — a feat only U.S. great Michael Phelps has achieved at a single world championship.

She’s back in the water Friday in the 800-metre freestyle heats ahead of Saturday’s final and a potential showdown with reigning Olympic champion Katie Ledecky.

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McIntosh is the Olympic champ and world-record holder in the 400-metre individual medley, and that final is Sunday when the championship concludes.

“Seeing how close I was (to the 200 fly world record) gives me a lot of confidence, and the way I felt in that final is amazing as well, so I’m super, super excited for the 800 and then of course the 400 IM,” McIntosh said. “Now all my focus is on getting a good recovery tonight and then getting ready for the heats.”

Her victory Thursday was the 11th medal of her career at long-course worlds, which pushed her past veteran teammate Kylie Masse, of LaSalle, Ont.

Masse, a five-time Olympic medallist, just missed keeping pace with McIntosh by finishing fourth in women’s 50-metre backstroke. Masse fell short of the podium by three hundredths of a second.

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“It’s always challenging,” said the 29-year-old. “You actually must be perfecting each talent to be competing for the rostrum. It’s clearly unlucky to overlook out by nothing, however on the finish of the day, I’ve to be pleased with myself and what I’ve achieved this yr.”

American Katharine Berkoff took gold in 27.08 seconds forward of teammate Regan Smith was second in 27.25 and China’s Letian Wan claimed bronze in 27.30. Calgary’s Ingrid Wilm positioned eighth.

Saskatoon’s Blake Tierney lowered the Canadian file within the 200-men’s backstroke in his warmth and once more in his semifinal to qualify for Friday’s remaining with the fifth-fastest time of 1:55.03. “I think at trials I didn’t really display my best stuff,” Tierney said. “I had an (ankle) injury going into it, so wasn’t working the kick a lot. I got that sorted and this meet I’ve had better prep. You always want to be quicker, so hopefully 1:54 in the final, that would be nice.”

Singapore provides a prize purse of US$3.1 million for pool and open-water swimmers, plus a $30,000 bonus to swimmers who break world information.

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Also Thursday, Canada positioned sixth within the ladies’s 4×200 freestyle relay remaining, with Brooklyn Douthwright, Sienna Angove, Ella Cosgrove and Ella Jansen ending in 7:52.52. Australia received gold in 7:39.35, forward of the United States (7:40.01) and China (7:42.99).

Oliver Dawson of Grande Prairie, Alta., completed eleventh within the 200-metre breaststroke. The 17-year-old set a nationwide age group file with a time of two:10.32 within the semifinals.

Canada has received six medals on the world aquatics championships — 5 in swimming and one in excessive diving.

Katelyn Fung of London, Ont., narrowly missed a diving medal in her world championship debut by ending fourth within the ladies’s 10-metre remaining Thursday.

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The 21-year-old totalled 343.20 factors behind Chinese champion Yuxi Chen (430.50), silver medallist Pauline Alexandra Pfeif of Germany (367.10), and China’s Peiling Xie (358.20).

“Honestly, I haven’t realized what happened quite yet, but I can say I’m more than satisfied with my performance,” Fung mentioned. “Fourth place at my first individual world championships is incredible.”

“This really wasn’t on my bingo card for 2025 at all.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first printed July 31, 2025.

The Canadian Press