Summer Lightning Strikes Twice: McIntosh Smokes Titmus' 400m Free WR in 3:54.18
Faster than Tim Shaw 1974; finishing 100m as fast as Shane Gould's 100m WR in 1972. The WR splits compared: 56.95; 1:56.42; 2:55.65; 3:54.18 McIntosh - Victoria, June 7, 2025; 56.92; 1:56.94; 2:56.90; 3:55.90 Titmus - Fukuoka, July 23, 2023
Summer McIntosh, the women's star of Paris 2024 Olympic swimming, smashed Australian Olympic champion Ariarne Titmus' World 400m freestyle record with a 3:54.18 stunner at Canadian Trials for the World Championships in Victoria this evening.
Travelling into sub-3:55 waters below the pace of Tim Shaw's pioneering pace for men, 3:54.69, back in 1974, the Canadian three-times Olympic champion and a teenager who turns 20 only next year, practically matched Titmus' top speed from 2023 top the 100m mark, inched ahead of the Australian on the clock at 200m, scurried 1.24sec inside previous pioneering pace at 300m and delivered a bruising 58.53sec finish, her last 100m a match of Shane Gould's 100m World record back in 1972.
The WR splits compared:
- 56.95; 1:56.42; 2:55.65; 3:54.18 McIntosh - Victoria, June 7, 2025
- 56.92; 1:56.94; 2:56.90; 3:55.90 Titmus - Fukuoka, July 23, 2023
- At the 100m: as fast as Kornelia Ender's sixth of 10 World records and first sub-57 for the European title in 1974
- At the 200m: faster than Franzi Van Almisck ever swam over 200m free and as fast as Federica Pellegrini's first 200m World record in 2007
McIntosh reacted with what Swimming Canada described as "an unusual show of emotion from the usually stoic 18-year-old", whose first career World record was delivered in the same event, in 3:56.08, two years ago. Said McIntosh, through the national federation:
“You can see my outburst of emotion because I was really not expecting that time. Just seeing the time, after two years of really pushing my hardest every day and training, not seeing the results. It is just all that energy and anger, blood, sweat and tears built up. Having an amazing swim is just really satisfying.”
McIntosh is the first swimmer in history ever to hold the 400m free and both medley World records simultaneously, and that alongside ownership of the short-course standards in the 400 free, 200 butterfly and 400 medley. Awarded the Northern Star Award as Canada’s athlete of the year for 2024, McIntosh said:
“I knew my training has been really strong these past couple of months. I knew I was able to do something special.”
Ella Jansen, of Burlington, Ont., also booked a ticket to World titles in Singapore in July, with a 4:07.36 for silver.
The result in Victoria:
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