FLASH! Summer McIntosh Destroys 400 Free World Record with 3:54.18
Summer McIntosh began Canadian Trials with a world record Saturday night, blasting a full second off the world record in the 400 freestyle at 3:54.18.
The time takes down the record set by Ariarne Titmus of Australia in 2023. McIntosh took Titmus’s world record with a 3:56.08 at Canadian Trials. Titmus recaptured it with a 3:55.38 at Worlds in 2023.
McIntosh took it out hard and was under the pace at 300. She didn’t fade relative to the pace as she has in other races:
- McIntosh, 2023 WR: 27.34 – 29.12 – 29.65 – 29.80 – 29.65 – 30.28 – 30.26 – 29.98 – 3:56.08
- Titmus, 2023 WR: 27.56 – 29.36 – 30.00 – 30.02 – 30.19 – 29.77 – 29.61 – 28.87 – 3:55.38
- McIntosh, 2025 WR: 27.22 – 29.73 – 29.61 – 29.86 – 29.62 – 29.61 – 29.47 – 29.06 – 3:54.18
“Going into tonight, I knew that my training has been really good these past few months, and I knew that I could do something special,” McIntosh told the CBC broadcast, looking uncharacteristically amped and maybe a little surprised in herself. “So being able to input my training in doing that – I didn’t think my training would be 54.1 but I’m really happy with that.”
Katie Ledecky had set the top time in the world of 3:56.81, a U.S. Open record, at the TYR Pro Swim Series in Fort Lauderdale, a race in which McIntosh went 3:58.26. Ledecky won at U.S. Trials in 3:58.56 this week.
The splits from Ledecky and McIntosh back in May:
- Ledecky: 27.46 – 29.51 – 29.96 – 30.22 – 29.99 – 30.16 – 30.01 – 29.50 – 3:56.81
- McIntosh: 27.19 – 29.27 – 29.74 – 29.97 – 29.89 – 30.39 – 30.68 – 31.15 – 3:58.28
In May, McIntosh announced her intention to move to Austin, Texas, after the 2025 World Championships in August to train with coach Bob Bowman. In the winter, she left her long-time training base of Sarasota with coach Brent Arckey and has been training in France with French Olympic coach Fred Vergnoux. The regimen has certainly been working beautifully.
“I didn’t really feel a lot of pain in that,” McIntosh said. “I think I just felt so strong throughout, and that’s never been the case in the 400 freestyle for me. That last 100, I’m always really, really hurting. But I flipped at the 200 and I was just cruising, so I knew that I was having a strong swim. I could tell by the crowd and knew the way they were cheering that I was probably close to the world record. So I really tried to push that last part for them.”
In conversation with Summer McIntosh.
Who continues to rewrite history, breaking the 400m freestyle world record once again in a time of 3:54.18 — more than second faster than the previous Ariarne Titmus record.
Here’s 🇨🇦 Summer McIntosh after her latest brilliance. pic.twitter.com/ClRtu86l4U
— Devin Heroux (@Devin_Heroux) June 8, 2025
They’re the only two swimmers under four minutes this year, with Titmus taking time off from swimming this summer. McIntosh’s performance was just the 59th ever to break 4 minutes in the 400 free, those performances from six women (Titmus, McIntosh, Ledecky, Federica Pellegrini, Erika Fairweather and Li Bingjie, the latter this year).
McIntosh also owns the 400 individual medley long-course world record.
