It feels like deja vu all over again as Summer McIntosh set her second senior world record in five days, winning the 400-metre individual medley in 4:25.87 at the Canadian Swimming Trials on Saturday night.
The 16-year-old McIntosh eclipsed the old record of 4:26.36 was set by Katinka Hosszu of Hungary at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
A huge crowd at the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre roared their support as McIntosh swam the final metres of the race.
“That’s the first time I really, vividly heard the crowd during my race,” said McIntosh, who waved at the crowd after climbing out of the pool.
“It’s amazing to have all my family and friends in the stands, cheering me on. It really helped me in the last 100 metres."
“That’s the first time I really, vividly heard the crowd during my race. It’s amazing to have all my family and friends in the stands, cheering me on. It really helped me in the last 100 metres."
A Toronto native, McIntosh set the world record in the 400m freestyle on Tuesday’s opening night of the trials, winning the race in 3:56.08. That broke the old mark 3:56.40 set in May by Olympic champion Ariarne Titmus of Australia.
McIntosh is the first person to ever hold long-course world records in both the 400m IM and 400m free. She is the first Canadian since Alex Baumann in 1984 and first Canadian woman since Elaine Tanner in 1967 to hold two long course world records.
The Etobicoke Swim Club product, who now trains with the Sarasota Sharks in Florida, just missed setting a world record in the 200m Individual Medley on Thursday night. McIntosh won the race in 2:06.89, shattering the junior world standard and just off the world record time of 2:06.12.
She cruised to victory again Friday night, winning the 200m butterfly in 2:04.70, lowering her own world junior and Canadian mark of 2:05.05.
McIntosh will be part of the Swimming Canada team that will compete at the World Aquatics Championships, which will take place from July 14-30 in Fukuoka, Japan.