16-year-old Summer McIntosh Sets New World Record at Canadian Swimming Trials

McIntosh sets new senior world record

Canadian swimmer Summer McIntosh created a buzz at the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre with her first senior world record at the 2023 Bell Canadian Swimming Trials on Tuesday evening. McIntosh, aged 16, claimed victory in the women’s 400m freestyle event with a time of 3:56.08, beating the previous record set by Australian Ariarne Titmus back in May 2023. Titmus is the reigning Olympic champion in the event.

First Canadian swimmer to break world record since 2017

McIntosh has become the first Canadian swimmer to break a long course world record since Kylie Masse achieved this feat in winning gold in the women’s 100m backstroke at the 2017 World Aquatics Championships. She swam over three seconds faster than the national record she set in winning silver behind Titmus at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

“It was never in my dreams”

McIntosh expressed her excitement and surprise at achieving this new world record, saying, “to achieve something like this, it was very unexpected. It was never in my dreams to do this tonight, or even a few years ago. This just blows my mind”.

McIntosh’s impressive career so far

McIntosh first made a name for herself in the swimming world at just 14 years old with her fourth-place finish in the 400m freestyle event in her Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020. In 2022, she won four medals at the World Aquatics Championships, including two golds and a silver. At the 2022 Commonwealth Games, she won six medals overall.

Other Canadian swimmers also impressing

The Bell Canadian Swimming Trials are taking place as the selection event for the 2023 World Aquatics Championships and the 2023 Pan American Games. Alongside McIntosh’s world record, swimmer Ingrid Wilm also made waves by defeating two-time Olympic medallist Kylie Masse in the women’s 100m backstroke final. Meanwhile, Javier Acevedo and Olympians Sydney Pickrem and Kelsey Wog all qualified for worlds in their respective events.

Credit: https://olympic.ca/2023/03/29/summer-mcintosh-sets-world-record-to-open-bell-canadian-swimming-trials/

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