Canada s Summer McIntosh crushes 400m freestyle world record

MONTREAL – Summer McIntosh smashed the women’s 400m freestyle world record in winning the title at the Canadian Swimming Trials in 3min 54.18sec on June 7, sending a signal for the upcoming world championships in Singapore.

McIntosh, a triple Olympic champion and former world record holder in the event, sliced more than a second off the previous world record of 3:55.38 set by Australian Ariarne Titmus at the 2023 world championships in Fukuoka, Japan.

“Going into tonight I knew that my training has been really good these past few months, and I knew that I could do something special. I mean, I didn’t think my training would be 54.1, but I’m really happy with that overall,” the 18-year-old star said.

It was McIntosh’s first race of the trials in Victoria, British Columbia, selection meet for the July 11-Aug 3 worlds in Singapore.

While she is entered in seven events, including the 800m free, 400m individual medley, 200m individual medley, 200m free, 200m butterfly and 200m backstroke, McIntosh has indicated she aims to compete in five events at worlds.

McIntosh won gold in the 200m butterfly, 200m medley and 400m medley at the Paris Games, and she will head to Singapore seeking to add to her four world titles.

With Titmus taking a season off, she can expect her greatest challenge in the 400m free to come from Katie Ledecky but, after her latest showing, McIntosh appeared more than up for a clash with the United States great.

“To be honest, I didn’t really feel a lot of pain in that. I just felt so strong throughout and that’s never been the case in the 400 freestyle for me. The last 100, I’m always really, really hurting, but I flipped up the 200 and I was just cruising, so I knew