McIntosh just misses breaking oldest women’s swimming record by blink of an eye

Article content

VICTORIA — Summer McIntosh came within a blink of an eye of breaking swimming’s oldest women’s world record at the Bell Canadian Swimming Trials on Tuesday night.

With a sold-out crowd’s cheers ringing in her ears, the 18-year-old from Toronto swam the 200-metre butterfly in 2:02.26 — just .45 off the record of 2:01.81 set by China’s Liu Zige in 2009. She also shaved .76 off her own Canadian record and notched the second fastest time in history in the event.

Meanwhile, four new swimmers earned selection to Team Canada for this summer’s World Aquatics Championships. McIntosh was pleased with her swim, but also believes the record remains within her grasp.

“I think this world record is the hardest one to get,” said McIntosh, who has set two world records and four Canadian records in four days. “I’m just so happy with the 2:02 low tonight. I didn’t know if that was possible for me.”

McIntosh was on world record pace when she made the final turn for home.

“I was kind of upset with myself with the finish,” she said. “My last stroke was just a little bit wonky. I can definitely find the other little deficiencies through the race.

“The fact I’m knocking on the door on that world record is really encouraging. That’s the one world record I never thought I would even come close to. To be pretty close to it is pretty wild.”

McIntosh won the 200-m individual medley on Monday in 2:05.70, lowering the time of 2:06.12 set by Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu that stood for nearly 10 years. She opened the trials, winning the 400-m freestyle in 3:54.18 on Saturday, breaking the old mark of 3:55.38 held by Australia’s Ariarne Titmus.

She broke her own Canadian record in the 800-m freestyle Sunday. Her time of 8:05.07 shaved almost five seconds off her own Canadian record and was the third fastest time ever, 0.95 of a second off the world record American legend Katie Ledecky set in May.

Ilya Kharun of Montreal picked up his second victory of the trials, winning the men’s 200-m butterfly in 1:53.41.

Kharun earned a bronze medal in the 200 fly at the Paris 2024 Olympics, setting a Canadian record time. It was the first medal ever for a Canadian in the event.

Kharun said the race remains a learning curve for him.

“I’m really glad how it’s progressing,” said Kharun, who swam a personal best time to win the 100 fly on Sunday. “I think it should be a lot better once we get some more work in.”

It was an emotional moment for Toronto’s Ruslan Gaziev, who won the men’s 100-m freestyle in 48.37 seconds. That was under Swimming Canada’s secondary standard of 48.82.

Gaziev is returning to swimming after serving an 18-month suspension due to an anti-doping rule violation regarding keeping his whereabouts information fully up-to-date. “I’m just happy I won,” said the 25-year-old. “I’m honestly proud of myself and how I’ve handled the struggles I’ve had. I feel like I’ve really built up my resilience.”

Antoine Sauve of Montreal’s CAMO club was second in the men’s 100 in 48.42. Toronto’s Josh Liendo was third in 48.62, followed by Filip Senc-Samardzic of Toronto in 49.13. Liendo had already earned selection in two events (100 fly and 50 free) while Sauve and Senc-Samardzic added their names to the list.

Three-time Olympian Penny Oleksiak of Toronto won her second event of the trials, taking the women’s 100 free in 54.03, well under the AQUA A standard of 54.25. She swam a personal best to win the 50 free on Monday. “I think I had a lot more in that race,” said Oleksiak, the owner of seven Olympic medals. “I’m excited to get back into training and just getting faster for the summer.”

The top four finishers in the men’s and women’s 100 freestyle events will be selected to join Team Canada at this summer’s World Aquatics Championships.

Finishing second in the women’s 100 free was Kelowna’s Taylor Ruck in 54.41, followed by Brooklyn Douthwright of Riverview, N.B., in 54.74 and Ingrid Wilm of the High Performance Centre_Vancouver in 55.15. Ruck (100-m) and Wilm (50-m) had already earned selection in backstroke events, while Douthwright earned her spot for the first time.

STRONG NIGHT FOR PARA SWIMMERS

Para swimmers enjoyed another strong night with Alyssa Smyth, Nicholas Bennett, and Sebastian Massabie all setting Canadian records. Katie Cosgriffe won the multi-class women’s 100-m butterfly in 1:07.61, a time the S10 swimmer from the Oakville Aquatic Club believes she can improve on.

“There’s lots of technical ways that I can be a lot faster,” she said. “I have to work on my speed in general.”

Alyssa Smyth of the Orangeville Otters Swim Club was second in the race in an S13 Canadian record time of 1:06.42. A mix-up resulted in Smyth arriving at the pool late. She didn’t have time for a warm-up before her race.

“There was a lot of adrenalin,” said Smyth. “I thought to make the best of the situation, I would just try the best I could. It went pretty well.”

Fernando Lu of Langley’s Olympian Swimming won two races. The S10 swimmer started the evening taking the multi-class 100-m butterfly in 58.20 seconds, then the 50-m freestyle in 24.44.

“It went well for me tonight,” said Lu, who reached two finals at the Paris 2024 Paralympics. “I feel more energized than ever. I’m really happy with the way I’ve recovered from the past races.”

Sebastian Massabie of the Pacific Sea Wolves broke the S5 Canadian record twice in the 50 freestyle. He swam 36.22 seconds in the morning preliminaries, then 35.42 in the final. He broke the Canadian record in the S5 50-m butterfly twice on Monday.

Nicholas Bennett, an S14 swimmer with the Red Deer Catalina Swim Club, swam 57.50 to lower his own Canadian record in the 100-m butterfly.

The six-day trials, which run through Thursday, have attracted more than 700 swimmers to Saanich Commonwealth Place in Victoria.