On Monday, Summer McIntosh obliterated the decade-old world record in the women’s 200m individual medley, touching the wall in an astonishing 2 minutes 05.70 seconds. This achievement marked her second record at the Canadian swimming trials.
The 18-year-old sensation surpassed Hungarian Katinka Hosszu’s previous mark of 2:06.12, which was established at the 2015 World Championships. McIntosh now holds the distinction of being the first woman to complete the event in under 2 minutes and 6 seconds.
This remarkable feat was the triple Olympic gold medallist McIntosh’s second world record of the meet, following her 400m freestyle world record set on Saturday.
The exceptionally talented Canadian teenager also delivered an impressive performance during Sunday’s victory in the 800m freestyle, where she clocked the third-fastest time in history for an event not typically considered her strongest discipline.
Despite a grueling weekend of competition, McIntosh showed no signs of fatigue, delivering yet another dazzling performance that captivated the crowd in British Columbia on Monday.
“Overall really happy with that time and always just trying to keep pushing forward,” McIntosh said after her record-breaking display.
“It’s awesome. 200IM is my main race out of my top five or six races where I really have to execute perfectly. There’s no room for mistakes and it’s kind of a sprint event for me, so I’m really happy with that. It gives me a lot of confidence heading into Singapore,” added McIntosh, referring to next month’s World Championships.
When asked about her preparation for Monday’s effort after a demanding weekend, she explained: “Just recovering, sleeping as much as possible and eating a lot. And also mentally calming myself down and taking it one race at a time. I’ve had a lot of practice at that these past few years.”
McIntosh built the foundation for her record-breaking assault with flawless opening sections in the butterfly and backstroke. An improved breaststroke — historically her weakest discipline — then positioned her squarely on world record pace. From there, she unleashed her power in the closing freestyle segment, definitively erasing Hosszu’s record from the books.
Mary-Sophie Harvey finished in second place with a time of 2:08.78, while Ashley McMillan secured third with 2:12.08.
