Once Untouchable, Summer McIntosh Has Placed Target on 200 Butterfly World Record
Sift through the list of world records and two – one male and one female – inarguably stand out as the most daunting.
On the men’s side, there is the 800-meter freestyle standard of China’s Zhang Lin, who clocked 7:32.12 at the 2009 World Championships. On the women’s side, there is the 200 butterfly mark of China’s Liu Zige, who went 2:01.81 at the 2009 National Games. Both records were attained during the super-suit era, a two-year stretch when athletes had access to technology that led to more than 100 world records.
The world record of Zhang is going nowhere anytime soon, as it reflects back-to-back 3:46 marks for the 400 freestyle. Since Zhang set the record, the closest anyone has come is 4.88 seconds, when Tunisian Ahmed Hafnaoui touched the wall in 7:37.00 at the 2023 World Championships in Fukuoka.
Liu’s time, too, was once deemed untouchable. Yet, a shift in viewpoint is underway, and Canadian Summer McIntosh is the reason. In the past eight months, the teenager has produced spectacular times across a multitude of events, including a 2:03.03 effort that won McIntosh Olympic gold last summer in the 200 fly, with her time ranking as the No. 2 performance in history.
Over the weekend, while racing at the TYR Pro Series stop in Westmont, Illinois, McIntosh was sensational, claiming victories in both individual medley events and the 200 fly. Her win in the 400 IM arrived in the fourth-fastest time in history while her triumph in the 200 fly produced a time of 2:04.00, less than a second off the effort she managed at the Paris Games.
Just 18 years old and already a multi-time Olympic champion, World Champs titlist and world-record setter, McIntosh is the undisputed current queen of women’s swimming. Earlier this year, she posted history’s 10th-fastest time in the 800 freestyle, consequently ending Katie Ledecky’s sole ownership of the top-10. The Canadian’s versatility is her trademark, and the road to the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles should allow fans of the sport to witness her wide-ranging skill.
Yes, the gap between Liu’s world record and McIntosh’s personal best sits at 1.22 seconds, a sizable chasm in a sport where hundredths of a second are typically shaved off world records. But McIntosh, coached by Brent Arckey with the Sarasota Sharks, is a phenom and her ability to go 2:03-low, as was the case at La Defense Arena, provided proof that Liu’s record is not as distant as it once was.
When Liu set the world record, she was out in 27.19 at the 50-meter mark and came through the midway point of the race in 58.08. Liu touched at the 150-meter wall in 1:30.20 and came home in a split of 31.61. For comparison, McIntosh’s Olympic gold featured an opening length of 27.38 and a 100-meter split of 58.97. She was timed at 1:30.70 at the 150-meter turn and closed in a split of 32.33.
The clear difference between Liu and McIntosh was obviously the closing 50 meters, hardly a surprise given the way the super-suits preserved energy and helped athletes stay on top of the water and finish strong. But McIntosh held her own on the other splits, even logging a faster time on the third 50.
To erase a deficit of more than a second to the world record will take a monumental performance, but McIntosh has shown nothing but improvement over the last few years, and her best days in the sport figure to await. In American Regan Smith, she has a rival who has been sub-2:04 and will continue to push.
Certainly, McIntosh is not afraid to test herself against legendary standards. After all, she is now two seconds faster than Katinka Hosszu’s former world record in the 400 individual medley.
Time will dictate whether McIntosh can erase Liu’s record. If nothing else, it is a testament to her talent that we’re even having the conversation. A few years ago, that type of chatter was unthinkable.
