MONTREAL (AP) — Summer McIntosh broke the longest-standing individual women’s swimming world record Sunday night, finishing the 200-meter butterfly in 2 minutes 1.65 seconds at the Canadian trials.
The 19-year-old McIntosh broke the mark of 2:01.81 set by China's Liu Zige in 2009 during what’s known as the super-suit era.
A three-time champion at the 2004 Paris Olympics, McIntosh slammed her fists into the water in celebration while smiling ear-to-ear
as the crowd erupted inside the Olympic pool.
“That was the one world record that I’ve always dreamt of as a kid,” McIntosh said. “To now do it is really incredible.”
McIntosh has long targeted the record, coming within 0.18 seconds with a time of 2:01.99 last year in the world championships.
“I could tell on the last 50 that I must have been close to the world record just based off how loud the crowd was,” said McIntosh, who finished 8.5 seconds ahead of runner-up Mary-Sophie Harvey. “That really kept me going and motivated me to get to the wall.”
The race Sunday was the first opportunity for many Canadian fans to see McIntosh compete since her high-profile move to train in Austin, Texas, under Bob Bowman, the coach who guided Michael Phelps to a record 23 Olympic gold medals.
“It’s always special,” Bowman said. “They’re very few and far between, even with swimmers like Summer. It’s hard to get there. It’s fun to see her start the meet off that way. I think she’ll have some other good events as well, so it should be fun.”
McIntosh will compete in the 400 IM on Monday, the 400 free on Tuesday and the 200 IM on Wednesday ahead of the Pan Pacific Championships in Irvine, California.
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