Canadian swimming phenom Summer McIntosh beat American star Katie Ledecky to win gold in the women’s 400-metre freestyle at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore on Sunday.
The 18-year-old from Toronto clocked a time of three minutes 56.26 seconds to claim her ninth career medal at long-course worlds, tying Penny Oleksiak and Kylie Masse for the most by a Canadian.
China’s Li Bingjie edged Ledecky for silver, out-touching the decorated Olympian by 0.3 seconds in 3:58.21.
Though she holds the 400 free world record, McIntosh had failed to win gold in the event in the Olympics or previous world championships.
The Canadian swimmer picks up her first world championships win in the 400-metre.
McIntosh reclaimed the world record at the Canadian trials last month with a time of 3:54.18, beating the mark of 3:55.38 set by Australia’s Ariarne Titmus at the 2023 worlds.
She won her semifinal in the women’s 200m individual medley about 25 minutes later on Sunday — the second of her five individual events in Singapore. McIntosh is looking to become the second swimmer in history to win five solo titles at a single long-course world championships, after Michael Phelps in 2007.
“I’ve never done a double like that,” McIntosh told CBC Sports’ Devin Heroux. “I think the 400 free, at past world championships and Olympics, I haven’t been at my best. And I haven’t been where I wanted to be. So, to finally stand in the centre of the podium is promising for the rest of the meet.
“I think I’m at my best. I’m in the best shape of my life. So now I just have to act on that and put it into all my races.”
The Canadian pair punched their tickets to the 200-metre medley final at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore.
McIntosh, the reigning Olympic champ in the 200m medley, posted the fastest semifinal time of the day (2:07.39).
Mary-Sophie Harvey of Trois-Rivières, Que., also qualified for Monday’s final after finishing one spot behind McIntosh in 2:10.19.
In conversation with 🇨🇦 Summer McIntosh.
Who tells me she was so in control of the 400m freestyle. And is obviously very happy to get that tough double out of the way.
Here’s our poolside chat in Singapore after another golden performance from Canada’s Summer McIntosh. pic.twitter.com/B2gLIIKPEv
McIntosh will face Ledecky again in the highly anticipated women’s 800m freestyle, with the final scheduled for Saturday. She will also be going for gold in the 400m individual medley and 200 butterfly.
Watch live coverage of every swimming race on CBCSports.ca and CBC Gem.
In other Canadian results on Sunday, Montreal’s Ilya Kharun and Toronto’s Josh Liendo failed to qualify for the men’s 50m butterfly final after finishing third and sixth, respectively, in the second semifinal.
Reporter Devin Heroux will be on site in Singapore speaking to Canadians following their races, and will join The Ready Room show live on YouTube every day after finals, with Brittany MacLean Campbell hosting from Toronto. The show will include Canadian highlights, athlete interviews and analysis.
Day 1 of the swimming world championships started fast, with Summer McIntosh winning gold in the women’s 400m freestyle, beating out Katie Ledecky of the USA, who took bronze. We hear from McIntosh as well as Canadian Ilya Kharun, who had a disappointing 50m fly. Brittany MacLean Campbell & Devin Heroux tell you everything you need to know from the world swimming championships.
In the other early individual final Sunday, Lukas Martens of Germany won the men’s 400 free in 3:42.35, edging Sam Short of Australia who was .02 behind. Bronze went to Kim Woomin of South Korea in 3:42.60.
Martens is the reigning Olympic champion and also holds the world record of 3:39.96.
The other two gold medals Sunday were in the relays.
The Australian women took gold just ahead of the United States in the 4×100 freestyle relay. The Aussies clocked 3:30.60 with 3:31.04 for the U.S. The Netherlands took bronze in 3:33.89.
The Canadian quartet of Brooklyn Douthwright, Taylor Ruck, Sienna Angove and Ingrid Wilm didn’t qualify for the final, finishing fifth in their heat with a time of 3:37.50.
On the men’s side in the 4×100 freestyle, Australia also took gold in 3:08.97. Italy took silver in 3:09.58 with bronze for the United States in 3:09.64.
Canada’s Filip Senc–Samardzic, Josh Liendo, Antoine Sauve and Ruslan Gaziev finished last among the eight teams (3:12.89).
Watch day one swimming finals at the World Aquatics Championships from Singapore.
The shock of the first day might have been Chinese 12-year-old Yu Zidi, who was the seventh fastest in the women’s 200m medley qualifying and will swim in the final.
Asked her reaction, she replied: “Oh, I’m in,” unaware she had advanced.
“I will continue to work harder,” she added. “I hope to find a breakthrough at these world championships and show my potential.”
Asked for her reaction to the competition, she added. “You can feel it’s quite intense. I try not to think so much and just give it my all.”
American powerhouse Katie Ledecky broke her own 800m free world record in May, and just a few weeks later at Canadian Trials Summer McIntosh came within .95 seconds of the record in her 800m final. On Day 7 of swimming worlds we will witness these two champions go head-to-head for what The Ready Room’s Brittany MacLean Campbell is calling the ‘race of the century’. Watch it live August 2nd on CBC Gem.
