McIntosh sets swimming world record in women's 400m freestyle for her 1st world short course win

Swimmer Summer McIntosh, the first Canadian to win three gold medals in a summer or winter Olympic Games, captured the women's 400-metre freestyle in world record time for her first individual world short course championship gold medal on Tuesday in Budapest, Hungary.

In her first major race since the Paris Games in July, McIntosh led from start to finish, touching the wall in three minutes 50.25 seconds. The previous world mark of 3:51.30 was set by Li Bingjie of China on Oct. 27, 2022.

McIntosh's performance also set an Americas record and world junior record for the 18-year-old. Her 3:52.80 previous best in the 400 free was also a Canadian mark.

"There's been so many other amazing swims tonight for Team Canada and this is just Day 1," McIntosh, who was awarded $25,000 US for her efforts, stated in a Swimming Canada news release. "The next couple days of racing should be awesome and we'll just try to keep the momentum going."

"This is definitely one of my favourite, if not my favourite, pool in the world because it holds so many memories and it's a really fast pool," McIntosh told Devin Heroux of CBC Sports this week at a training session ahead of the event.

A few hours later, McIntosh was named the recipient of the Northern Star Award as Canada's athlete of the year (formerly the Lou Marsh Trophy), with media members from across Canada voting Tuesday on the annual Toronto Star award.

CBC Sports analyst Brittany MacLean said the 400 freestyle has been "a bit of a mental hurdle" for McIntosh since she hadn't won the race previously on the international scene.

But McIntosh started strong Tuesday and held the pace with long strokes and moved well in and out of the walls through 16 lengths of the pool at Duna Arena.

Mary-Sophie Harvey of Trois-Rivières, Que., who sat fourth with fewer than 25 metres to the finish, took bronze on Tuesday in 3:54.88, her first international individual medal. Australia's Lani Pallister (3:53.73) collected silver after winning the race at 2022 short course worlds in Melbourne.

"It's always been a dream of mine. For years I was like, 'the relay swimmer.' and it feels really great to finally step on that podium individually," said Harvey, who trains at Montreal's CAMO Club. "To say that I've done it for the first time and I'm 25, I think it just shows that you can still dream later in life. And I think it's just the beginning of a good week."

Added MacLean: "She said this week [medalling] was her goal. She had an opportunity, she loves to race and she made the most of it. She stayed in the mix [for a medal] the whole time and made the move [over] the final 50 [metres]."

In October, the 25-year-old Harvey clinched gold in the 400 free with a 3:56.78 personal best at a World Aquatics event in Incheon, South Korea.

McIntosh will also be competing in the 400 individual medley, 200 butterfly and 200 backstroke in Budapest, the first time she'll be competing internationally in a backstroke event. 

The short course championship is contested in a 25m pool instead of 50m.