McIntosh breaks Titmus' 400m freestyle swimming world record
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Canadian swimmer Summer McIntosh, pictured at the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games, has set a new world record in the women's 400m freestyle.
ST FILE PHOTO
MONTREAL – Canadian teenager Summer McIntosh may be just 16, but she has fought her whole life for her dream and was understandably emotional when she achieved it on Tuesday.
At the Canadian Swimming Trials in Toronto, she clocked 3min 56.08sec to break the women’s 400m freestyle world record and burst into tears afterwards.
She broke the previous mark of 3:56.40 set last May by Australian Ariarne Titmus, who had bettered American Katie Ledecky’s six-year-old world mark of 3:56.46 from the 2016 Rio Olympics.
“I’m not a crier but this world record, I didn’t think this was possible tonight,” McIntosh told CBC Sports. “It’s absolutely incredible. I’m not an emotional person. But I was hit with so much emotion. Pure euphoria right now.
“Over the past few years, I’ve put my life into this. To be the best I can be. To achieve something like this, it was very unexpected. It was never in my dreams to do this tonight or even a few years ago. This just blows my mind.”
Her head coach Brent Arckey said the Toronto native was “one of the best racers I’ve ever seen”.
“I’m not sure what to say right now. I’m trying to hold it all in. But celebrating her. This is a special thing,” he said. “I’ve seen her do some really special stuff in practice. I’m just super proud of her.”
Coming into the meet – Canada’s selection event for the world championships in Japan in July – McIntosh was the fourth-fastest swimmer ever in the event behind Titmus, Ledecky and Italian Federica Pellegrini.
She had clocked 3:59.32 to finish second to Titmus at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
McIntosh was also the silver medallist behind Ledecky at the 2022 world championships in Budapest, where she broke the four-minute barrier for the first time in the event. She also won gold in the 200m butterfly and 400m medley at the world meet.
Her record is the first long-course world mark by a Canadian since Kylie Masse in the 100m backstroke at the 2017 world championships in Budapest.
McIntosh first broke into the international scene at Tokyo 2020 when – as a 14-year-old – she finished fourth in the 400m free in her Olympic debut.
She recently relocated to Florida to train, and said she always feels extra motivated when competing in Canada, breaking into tears as she spoke about her family.
“I have such amazing people surrounding me with family, friends and all the coaches, and I’m so grateful for that and I honestly could not be having any more fun than this,” she told CBC Sports.
Ella Jansen, 17, also punched her ticket to the Fukuoka world meet in the 400m free, finishing second in 4:08.81. AFP, REUTERS
