For the second time this week, Summer McIntosh of Toronto, Ontario set a world record at the Canadian Swimming Trials in Toronto, Ontario. In the women’s 400 metre individual medley, she had a time of 4:25.87, which broke the previous world record time of Katinka Hosszu of Hungary, who swam to a time of 4:26.36 in winning the gold medal at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
McIntosh’s previous best time was 4:28.61. The Canadian national record was set at the 2022 United States Open Swimming Championships in Greensboro, North Carolina on December 2. By posting a time of 4:28.61, McIntosh also set the World Junior Record and the United States Open record. It was also the fourth fastest time in history.
McIntosh won the gold medal in the women’s 400 medley at the 2022 World Aquatics Championships in Budapest, Hungary. Her time was 4:32.04, and beat Katie Grimes of the United States by .63 seconds.
McIntosh set a world record in the women’s 400 metre freestyle on Tuesday with a time of 3:56.08. According to Devin Heroux of CBC Sports, she is the first swimmer ever to have the world records in the women’s 400 metre freestyle and the women’s 400 metre individual medley at the same time.
McIntosh is also the first Canadian to set two world records in swimming since Elaine Tanner of Vancouver, British Columbia accomplished the feat in 1967. At the 1967 Pan American Games in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Tanner set the World Record in the women’s 100 metre backstroke (1:07.32) and the women’s 200 metre backstroke (2:24.55). Interestingly, Tanner was 16 years of age when she set the two world records. That is the same age McIntosh is now. McIntosh’s world records will give her confidence as she prepares for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
