Summer 2:02.2 Says 'Tell You What I Want ... Really, Really Wanna "Zige-a-Zige" The Shine Off The Shiny!
The oddity of Liu Zige's 2:01.81 WR of shiny suited 2009 highlighted by the first gust of challenge as Summer McIntosh shadows the Chinese swimmer's splits for a World best and Commonwealth record of 2:02.26
Girl Power is back in vogue this week! Summer McIntosh, fresh from a World record 3:54.18 in the 400m free, a WR-rattling 8:05.09 in the 800 free, a thumping 2:05.70 global mark in the 200 medley, added a fourth punch at Canadian Trials in Victoria with a 2:02.26 World best and Commonwealth record in the 200m butterfly.
Liu Zige's 2:01.81 shiny suit survivor from 2009 finally felt a first gust of serious challenge as McIntosh shadowed the memory of the Chinese swimmer's last blast of polyurethane performance-enhancement back in October 2009 before the shiny suits were sunk and swimming was returned to swimmers on January 1, 2010.
The splits are fascination. Look at the challenge of Lukas Martens trying to overcome Paul Biedermann's 400m free record; look at the finishing speeds of the fastest 800m men then and now; look at the distinct gap in the homecoming speeds of shiny and textile efforts and we alight on Liu Zige Vs Summer McIntosh knowing we're contemplating a different puzzle, one that sets Liu's swim aside and suggests different explanations that have been lost in time:
- 27.19 58.08 1:30.20 2:01.81 Liu Zige 2009
- 27.28; 58.58; 1:30.19 2:02.26 Summer McIntosh 2025
Do you see it? Not much difference. Yes, a last length gain of 31.61 to 32.07 shiny over textile but textile wins the third length as McIntosh takes a smart route to possible pioneering in all suits by not racing ahead of Liu over the first 100, by attacking the third length and then chasing her goal with all she'd got.
It nearly paid off - it pioneered a new world-best pace and reminded us, if we needed reminding, that Liu's 2009 swim is unlike the pattern of other shiny suit swims of 200m and upwards. The closest anyone had come to that 2:01.81 was McIntosh's Paris 2024 gold-grabbing 2:03.03.
McIntosh was pleased with what she got but wants what she did not quite get, the toughest of the shiny suits standards:
“I think this world record is the hardest one to get, I’m just so happy with the 2:02 low tonight. I didn’t know if that was possible for me. I was kind of upset with myself with the finish. 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 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 400m freestyle World record in in 3:54.18 on Saturday, breaking the 3:55.38 held by Australia’s Ariarne Titmus:
Craig Lord
There was a 8:05.07 Commonwealth and Canadian record in the 800m free, too:
Craig Lord
Below is what the World-record progression in textile suits might have looked like - minus what might have been 2008-09 without the shiny drop - since the last pre-shiny suit World record, the 2:05.40 of Australian Jessicah Schipper set on 17 August 2006 at the Pan Pacific Championships in... the same pool in Victoria in which McIntosh has just swum 2:02.26:
