Summer McIntosh wins 2nd gold in quest for 5 at swimming worlds with victory in 200 IM
Quebec's Mary Sophie-Harvey takes bronze
Canadian superstar Summer McIntosh is two for two in her pursuit of five individual gold medals at the swimming world championships, capturing the 200-metre individual medley Monday in Singapore.
The 18-year-old from Toronto finished in a time of two minutes 6.69 seconds, shy of the world record of 2:05.7 she set last month at the Canadian trials in Victoria. B.C.
Mary Sophie-Harvey of Trois-Rivières, Que., took bronze in 2:09.15, finishing behind American Alex Walsh (2:08.58).
"I'm not super happy with the time, but honestly, at a world championships, my goal is just to go as fast as I can go, not focus too much on anything else," McIntosh said after the race. "But, I mean, I'm still happy with the gold and just want to continue my streak for the next coming event."
McIntosh extended her Canadian-best career gold medal total at long-course worlds to six, and with her 10th medal overall surpassed Kylie Masse and Penny Oleksiak for most ever by a Canadian.
Next up for McIntosh is the 200m butterfly, with the semifinals scheduled for Wednesday and final on Thursday, and then the 800m freestyle Saturday before finishing up with the 400m IM on Sunday.
McIntosh won the 400m freestyle on Sunday, defeating rival Katie Ledecky of the U.S. to capture her first international title in the event.
Famed Olympian Michael Phelps is the only swimmer to have won five individual gold medals at a world championships.
For Harvey, it was her first-ever individual long-course worlds medal. The 25-year-old finished fourth in three events at the Paris Olympics, but finally broke through at her fourth long-course worlds.
"I'm really happy tonight I can come away with the bronze medal," Harvey told CBC Sports' Devin Heroux. "I didn't really care about the time, honestly. I just wanted to get a medal for Canada and step on the podium with Summer again. I think it's something really special."
McIntosh invited Harvey to celebrate with her atop the podium as they sang along to the Canadian national anthem.
"Definitely the highlight for me tonight was Mary getting on the podium. That's absolutely incredible," McIntosh said. " ...and she's worked so hard for this. And to see her get the result, I mean, I think she's over the moon about it and she deserves it. And to share that moment for Team Canada was amazing."
Canada now has four medals at the World Aquatics Championships, including a silver in the women's 20m high diving by Montreal's Simone , which was the country's first medal of the competition.
Yu Zidi, a Chinese 12-year-old, finished fourth behind Harvey in 2:09.21, just missing a medal as she astounds the swim world with her times. She is also due to compete in the 400 IM and 200 butterfly, probably her strongest events.
In other results Monday, Masse of LaSalle, Ont., and Taylor Ruck of Kelowna, B.C., advanced to Tuesday's final in the women's 100m backstroke.
Masse, a two-time world champion in the event, clocked 58.66 for the third-fastest semifinal time behind American Regan Smith (58.21) and Australian Kaylee McKeown (58.44).. Ruck qualified fifth overall in 59.18.
"I wasn't really thrilled with my morning swim, but the first one in the meet is always a little bit challenging and just not knowing where you're at," Masse said. "To be able to get that one over with and to be able to put up a pretty good time tonight, I'm happy with it and looking forward to tomorrow night."
Gretchen Walsh broke through with the first gold in Singapore for the United States, taking the 100 butterfly in 54.73.
The silver medallist a year ago in Paris, Walsh was just off her world-record time of 54.60 set earlier this year. Roos Vanotterdijk of Belgium took silver in 55.84 and Alexandria Perkins of Australia won bronze in 56.33.
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.
Walsh acknowledged in a post-race interview at poolside that the American team had been hit with a bout of what team officials called "acute gastroenteritis." It was picked up at a training camp in Thailand prior to their arrival in Singapore. U.S. officials have confirmed the outbreak but have given few details.
"It was not easy, and I'm just really proud of myself," Walsh said, thrilled to be under 55 seconds. "It took a lot of guts. I just wanted to go out there and do it for my team, just represent the flag well. It came out of somewhere, but I'm really, really happy."
Walsh's older sister Alex was almost even with McIntosh after 150 metres, swimming a strong breaststroke leg to make it a race.
"I was really excited on the breaststroke leg," she said. "I could see her and I knew I was kind of gaining on her because breaststroke is my best stroke. I was really excited and, obviously coming home on the freestyle, that's definitely where my biggest weakness [is]."
Two other finals wrapped up Monday's schedule.
Qin Haiyang, the world champion in 2023, defeated Paris Olympic winner Nicolo Martinenghi of Italy in the 100 breaststroke. Qin clocked 58.23 to give China its first gold in Singapore with the Italian swimmer finishing in 58.58. Denis Petrashov of Kyrgyzstan took bronze in 58.88.
"I've been injured and it's not been easy to get back to my best," Haiyang said. "I'm at best at 70%. I'm probably lucky. This definitely helps with my confidence."
In the men's 50 butterfly, Maxime Grousset of France edged out Noe Ponti of Switzerland. Grousset clocked 22.48 with Ponti finishing in 22.51. Thomas Ceccon of Italy took bronze in 22.67.
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 The Canadian Press and The Associated Press
