History was made in swimming on Sunday and a Canadian was in the spotlight. In the women’s 200 metre butterfly, Canadian Olympic gold medalist Summer McIntosh of Toronto, Ontario broke the world record with a time of 2:01.65 at the Canadian Swim Trials in Montreal, Quebec.
Liu Zige of China had the old world record in the women’s 200 metre butterfly. She had a time of 2:01.81 at the Chinese National Games in Jinan, China on October 21, 2009. Zige’s world record lasted over 15 years.
McIntosh now holds four world records in high performance women’s swimming. She also has the fastest time in the women’s 400 metre freestyle, the women’s 200 metre individual medley and the women’s 400 metre individual medley.
What McIntosh has been able to achieve over the last few years is simply extraordinary. She is possibly the greatest Canadian female athlete of all-time.
McIntosh ís a three-time Olympic gold medalist. She placed first in the women’s 200 metre butterfly, the women’s 200 metre individual medley and women’s 400 metre individual medley at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. Her Olympic winning time in Paris was 2:03.03. McIntosh’s time in Montreal on Sunday was 1.38 seconds faster than her electrifying race two years ago.
This was the fifth time a swimmer broke a world record in 2026. Cameron McEvoy of Australia broke the world record in the men’s 50 metre freestyle (20.88 seconds) at the 2026 China Open on March 20, 2026. Gretchen Walsh of the United States broke the world records in the women’s 100 metre butterfly (54.33 seconds) at the Fort Lauderdale Open on May 2, 2026, and the women’s 50 metre freestyle (23.55 seconds) at the Sette Colli Trophy in Rome, Italy on June 28, 2026. Marrit Steenbergen of the Netherlands broke the world record in the women’s 100 metre freestyle (51.68 seconds) at the Sette Colli Trophy in Rome on June 27, 2026.
