Summer McIntosh takes bronze as Katie Ledecky wins 800m freestyle at swimming worlds
Ilya Kharun edges fellow Canadian Josh Liendo for bronze in men's 100m butterfly
Canadian swimming phenom Summer McIntosh was unable to beat American star Katie Ledecky in the women's 800-metre freestyle at the world championships Saturday, ending her quest to win five individual gold medals in Singapore.
The 18-year-old from Toronto took bronze while Ledecky remained undefeated with her seventh world title in the event.
Ledecky prevailed after being challenged throughout the highly anticipated race, posting a championship-record time of eight minutes 5.62 seconds.
Australia's Lani Pallister finished less than four-tenths of a second behind Ledecky, edging McIntosh for silver by just 1.3 seconds in 8:05.98.
McIntosh ran second to Ledecky before making her move at the final turn for a brief lead after 700 metres. But Ledecky surged and delivered the knockout punch over the final 50 with Pallister closing fast behind her.
"Obviously that's not even close to what I wanted time-wise, place-wise, how I executed the race," McIntosh said. "I want to say congrats to Katie of course and Lani, they had amazing swims, but that's not what I wanted myself individually.
"I hate losing more than I like winning and I think that's a mentality that I've carried with myself throughout my entire career," she added. "That's really what gets my hand on the wall first most of the time. The feeling right now is something that I never want to feel again."
The 28-year-old Ledecky said she was unaware she was trailing and, when asked about it, glanced down at a race-results sheet to confirm it.
"I didn't know," Ledecky said. "I just knew it was close the whole way. There were times where I thought I was just going to break away. I was just happy I was up there.
"You just never know when you dive in what everyone's tactics are going to be — or what's going to happen," she added. "It was fun to just to be in that kind of a race. Just try to make small moves just here and there."
McIntosh was trying to become only the second swimmer in history to win five solo titles at a single long-course world championships.
She beat Ledecky in the 400m freestyle on the opening day for the first of her three gold medals, which is the most by a Canadian at a world championships. She was also victorious in the 200m individual medley and 200m butterfly.
Legendary U.S. Olympian Michael Phelps is the only swimmer to accomplish the feat, winning five golds in 2007.
McIntosh is still set to swim in the 400 medley, with the heats on Saturday night and final on Sunday at 8:15 a.m. ET.
She won the world title in the event in 2022 and 2023. McIntosh is also the reigning Olympic champion and world-record holder, having clocked 4:23.65 to lower her own mark at the Canadian trials in June.
Ledecky is the undisputed queen of the 800, winning the last four consecutive Olympic gold medals. She has maintained the world record since 2013 and, just when it seemed she might be past her prime, she lowered her nine-year-old standard of 8:04.79 from the Rio Olympics to 8:04.12 in May.
Ledecky first won that race in the 2012 Olympics and has never lost since in a major competition.
Watch live coverage of every race at the swimming worlds on CBCSports.ca and CBC Gem, with finals beginning at 7 a.m. ET each day. The full competition schedule is available here.
Ilya Kharun of Montreal earned Canada's first medal of the day with bronze in the men's 100m butterfly, clocking a personal-best 50.07 seconds for his first career individual medal at the long-course worlds.
Kharun, who earned bronze in both the 100- and 200 butterfly in Paris, was fifth at the turn before moving into medal position in the final moments, edging fellow Canadian Josh Liendo for the final podium spot by just 0.02 seconds.
Liendo won Olympic silver in the event ahead of Kharun last summer.
"Josh is an amazing competitor and he's a very strong swimmer," said the 20-year-old Kharun. "I told him when we finished, 'I wish I could have shared it with you.' Double podium again would have been great. But I'm glad that we can still keep pushing each other."
France's Maxime Grousset (49.62) captured the gold medal in European-record time, finishing ahead of Switzerland's Noe Ponti (49.83). Grousset also won the 50m butterfly.
"I'm so happy, I think it was well deserved," said Kharun, who missed the 50 fly final by 0.01 then finished fourth in the 200 by 0.17. "It was really frustrating and I'm just happy I got it."
Canada has now won eight medals at the World Aquatics Championships — seven in swimming and one in diving.
Taylor Ruck of Kelowna, B.C., failed to advance past the semifinals in the women's 50m freestyle later Saturday with the 10th-fastest overall time (24.53).
In other results Saturday, the United States set the world record in the 4x100 mixed freestyle relay, clocking 3:18.48.
The old record was 3:18.83 set in 2023 by Australia.
It was only the second world mark set in these championships.
The relay team members were: Jack Alexy, Patrick Sammon, Kate Douglass and Torri Huske.
The Neutral Athletes B team set a European record to win silver with a time of 3:19.68, while France bagged bronze in 3:21.35.
Liendo, who already earned bronze in Singapore as part of the 4x100m mixed medley relay, was also part of Canada's sixth-place mixed freestyle relay team. The quartet of Ruslan Gaziev, Liendo, Mary-Sophie Harvey and Taylor Ruck combined for a time of 3:23.16.
Gretchen Walsh of the U.S. won the women's 50 butterfly in 24.83 seconds for her second individual gold of the worlds. Earlier in the worlds she won the 100 fly. Alexandria Perkins of Australia claimed silver (23.51) with bronze for Roos Vanotterdijk of Belgium (25.43).
Paris Olympic 50-free gold medallist Cameron McEvoy of Australia repeated his title in the worlds, winning in a quick 21.14. Ben Proud of Britain was the silver medallist (21.26) and Alexy took bronze (21.46).
Defending champion and world-record holder Kaylee McKeown of Australia won gold again, taking the 200m backstroke in 2:03.33. American Regan Smith took her fourth silver medal in Singapore (2:04.29) with bronze for American Claire Curzan (2:06.04).
Reporter Devin Heroux will be on site in Singapore speaking to Canadians following their races, and will join The Ready Room show live on YouTube every day after finals, with Brittany MacLean Campbell hosting from Toronto. The show will include Canadian highlights, athlete interviews and analysis.
With files from Jesse Campigotto, Swimming Canada, The Canadian Press and The Associated Press
