Summer McIntosh secured her third gold medal of the Singapore World Championships on Thursday with a dominant victory in the women’s 200m butterfly, narrowly missing out on setting a new world record.
The 18-year-old Canadian touched the wall in 2 minutes 1.99 seconds, just 0.18 seconds outside the longstanding world record of 2:01.81 set by China’s Liu Zige in 2009. It was the second-fastest time in history.
McIntosh finished well ahead of her rivals, with American Regan Smith taking silver in 2:04.99 and Australia’s Elizabeth Dekkers claiming bronze in 2:06.12. China’s 12-year-old sensation Yu Zidi finished a close fourth in 2:06.43.
The victory keeps McIntosh on course to match the legendary Michael Phelps as the only swimmer to win five individual titles at a single world championships. Having already triumphed in the 400m freestyle and 200m individual medley, she is now eyeing the 800m freestyle where she will go head-to-head with American icon Katie Ledecky.
“My coach and I, our big goal was to break that world record and that was what we were training for,” McIntosh said after the race. “To see that I missed it by that little, overall I’m really happy with the time and my personal best, but I did not reach my goal tonight.”
Despite missing out on the record, McIntosh said the performance gave her added belief ahead of her next challenge.
“Happy with the gold, happy with the win and just going to keep pushing for it,” she said.
Meanwhile, China’s Yu Zidi continued to turn heads with another impressive display. The 12-year-old has been one of the standout stories of the meet in Singapore and narrowly missed out on a medal in both the 200m butterfly and the 200m individual medley.
Yu came fourth in the medley by just 0.06 seconds in what was considered one of her weaker events. Had she claimed bronze, she would have become the youngest medallist in world championship history since the competition began in 1973.