No Stopping Summer In Winter As McIntosh Takes Down Decade-Old Belmonte 200 'Fly WR in 1:59.32
Mireia Belmonte supreme fitness, built under the guidance of coach Fred Vergnoux, was present today as McIntosh, coached by Brent Arckey, thumped the 2014 champion's World-record pace for 7 of 8 lengths before the spectre of the Spaniard's caught up
Season come, season go, spring, Summer, fall and on to the winter World short-course Championships in Budapest, there's just no stopping Summer McIntosh: in 1:59.32, the Canadian teen in her last year as a junior, took down the global 200m butterfly mark that had stood at 1:59.61 to Spain's Mireia Belmonte for a decade.
Canada's Maple mastery in the 200m butterfly was doubled in the final straight after McIntosh's when teammate Ilya Kharun took the men's title in a championship and Americas record.
It was December 2014 when Belmonte claimed the same crown in he first sub-2-minute effort ever en route to becoming Spain's first female Olympic swimming champion with victory in the 200- 'fly at the Rio 2016 Games.
Belmonte and McIntosh are among the most versatile swimmers in history, the retired Spanish ace counting big medals on distance freestyle, butterfly and medley in her pantheon, the Canadian 2024-crowned Olympic champion in the 200 'fly also collecting gold in the 200 and 400m medley in Paris to go alongside the silver she claimed in the 400m freestyle.
Belmonte's supreme fitness, built under the guidance of coach Fred Vergnoux on her way to also becoming an 800m Olympic silver medallist and Olympic bronze 400m medley podium placer, was present in the pool today as McIntosh, coached by Brent Arckey, thumped the 2014 champion's World-record pace for seven of the eight lengths before the spectre of the Spaniard's top pace caught up dramatically down the last length.
The WR splits compared:
27.75; 58.24; 1:28.96; 1:59.61 - Belmonte 2014
27.08; 57.04; 1:28.17; 1:59.32 - McIntosh 2024
The 18-year-old Torontonian, advanced to the final with a world junior record 2:01.96 in her morning heat swim. Now, he senior and junior marks match, inside 2mins.
It’s the fifth career world record swim for McIntosh, who lowered the 400 freestyle mark on Tuesday at the Duna Arena. Said McIntosh:
“Anytime I can have the chance to hopefully get a crack at one or break one, it’s always a fun time. I just try to soak it up because they don’t come around super often,” said McIntosh, who captured her first long course gold in the same event in this pool two years ago. “I love Budapest overall. It’s an amazing place to be and swim and I love this pool as well. The crowd’s always amazing and electric so feeding off that energy going into all my races definitely helps me get the best result.”
Elsewhere in day 3 finals (see potted reports below), there were also titles for Elijah Winnington, of Australia, in the 400m freestyle, and China's Tang Qiantiang and Qin Haiyang in the women's and men's 100m breaststroke.
In semi-finals, Gretchen Walsh set a World record of 55.71 in the 100m medley and there was a championship record in the equivalent event for men ...
The day after a World record win in the 50m butterfly, Noè Ponti, of Switzerland, checked into lane 4 for the final of the 100m medley in a championship record of 50.43.
Craig Lord
Gallery: Ponti In Focus - by Patrick B. Kraemer
