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Summer McIntosh broke the world record in the women’s 200-metre butterfly at the Canadian swim trials Sunday night in Montreal.
McIntosh touched the wall in two minutes 1.65 seconds, and was understandably emotional after the race.
She slammed her fists into the water in celebration while smiling ear-to-ear as the crowd erupted inside the Olympic pool.
“As you can see my emotions, this is the absolute world [to me],” The 19-year-old Toronto phenom she told Alex Despatie. “Growing up this is the one world record I thought I would never break and to do it tonight is really special in front of a home crowd. “It means the absolute world and I’m in shock right now.”
Fans dotted the Olympic pool stands with signs supporting Canada’s biggest swimming star, including one that read, “Fly Summer Fly!”
“Thank you so much for supporting me, you guys were the reason I broke it tonight,” McIntosh said as she addressed the crowd. “That last 50 [metres] was pure adrenaline and I could hear the crowd going crazy and I knew I was probably under or close to world-record pace so that’s really what kept me going.”
McIntosh now owns four world records, but this is the one she’ll cherish the most.
Her mother, Jill, competed in this event at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.
She also broke Chinese swimmer Liu Zige’s time of 2:01.81, set in 2009 during what’s known as the super-suit era, was the longest-standing individual women’s record.
McIntosh has long targeted the record, coming within 0.18 seconds of it with a time of 2:01.99 at last year’s world championships.
Toronto’s Summer McIntosh swam to a time of 2:01.65 setting the world record time in the 200-metre butterfly at the Canadian swimming trials in Montreal.
Sunday was the first opportunity for many Canadian fans to see McIntosh race since her high-profile move to train in Austin, Texas, under renowned coach Bob Bowman, who guided Michael Phelps to a record 23 Olympic gold medals.
A triple gold medallist at the 2024 Paris Olympics, McIntosh turned in a performance for the ages at the Canadian swimming trials in Victoria last summer. She won all five of her events and becoming the first swimmer to break three individual world records at the same meet since Michael Phelps during his legendary eight-gold-medal performance at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
McIntosh’s feat is even more impressive when you recall the details. Over a span of just five days, the then 18-year-old seized the 400-metre freestyle world record from reigning Olympic champion Ariarne Titmus, lowered her own record in the women’s 400m individual medley by about three quarters of a second, and broke nine-time world champion Katinka Hosszu’s decade-old mark in the 200m IM.
She followed up that showing with a five-medal haul at the world championships, claiming four gold and one bronze in Singapore.
2:01.65 is the time Toronto’s Summer McIntosh swam Sunday setting a world record in the 200-metre butterfly at the Canadian swimming trials in Montreal.
McIntosh is only getting started as she’s competing in the 400 individual medley on Monday, the 400 freestyle on Tuesday and the 200 IM on Wednesday.
In the women’s 100m backstroke, Taylor Ruck of Kelowna, B.C., surprised Lasalle, Ont., Kylie Masse, who is a five-time Olympic medallist.
Ruck finished in a personal-best time of 58.33, followed by Masse (58.87), and and Calgary’s Ingrid Wilm (59.21).
In the S12 catagory, Quebec City’s Nicolas-Guy Turbide set a new national Para swimming record with a time of 1:02.42.
1:02.42 is the new Canadian Para swimming record S12 catagory time set by Quebec City’s Nicolas-Guy Turbide Sunday at the Canadian Swimming Trials in Montreal.
You can watch the entire Canadian swimming trials live on CBC Gem and the CBC Sports website from Sunday through Thursday. Preliminary races begin at 9:30 a.m. ET and the finals at 5:30 p.m. ET each day. Here’s the full schedule and results.
