World Championships, Day 1 Finals: Summer McIntosh Pulls Away for First Singapore Gold in 400 Free; Li Bingjie Edges Katie Ledecky for Silver
A potentially historic week is underway for Canada’s Summer McIntosh, and the effort was wire-to-wire in the women’s 400 freestyle. Seven weeks removed from breaking three world records and approaching two others at Canadian Trials, McIntosh is widely considered the world’s best female swimmer, poised for a stunning collection of honors on the global stage.
In her first final, McIntosh secured her fifth world title and first ever in a freestyle event, upstaging the great Katie Ledecky and one of the fastest fields in history.
McIntosh and Australia’s Lani Pallister flipped even at the 50-meter mark, and from there, she steadily built a lead that stretched to almost two seconds by the finish. The 18-year-old was never in contention for the ridiculous world record of 3:54.18 she posted last month in Victoria, but the time was still quicker than all but one swimmer in history.
McIntosh came in at 3:56.26, the fifth-fastest performance in history. After the race, it was on to further business as she dashed out of the pool to prepare for a semifinal contest in the 200 IM. McIntosh now has nine World Championship medals, including golds in the 200 butterfly and 400 IM at the 2022 and 2023 global meets. She ended up qualifying first for the 200 IM final by more than a second, and she will be an even bigger favorite in her second final of the meet.
“While preparing mentally for this world championships, I think tonight is my biggest night of the whole meet. So to come out with a gold medal and a really good, strong semifinal in the 200 IM, I’m really happy. I’ve never done a double like that, and I think 400 free, at past World Championships and Olympics, I haven’t been at my best, and I haven’t been where I wanted to be. So to finally stand in the center of the podium is promising for the rest of the meet,” McIntosh said.
“I think I’m at my best. I’m in the best shape of my life. So now I just have to act on that and put it into all my races.”
As the Canadian pulled away for an easy win, a back-and-forth battle developed for the medals. Pallister held down second place for the first half of the race before Ledecky moved into that spot on the fifth length. Ledecky appeared to be in position to win silver, but she was unable to turn on the jets on the final length as China’s Li Bingjie surged.
Li touched in 3:58.21, obliterating her previous Asian record of 3:59.99 set in April. Ledecky was third in 3:58.49 while Pallister came in just behind at 3:58.87. It was a big gap back to Isabel Gose in fifth place (4:02.90).
“I was a little too focused on the race on one side,” Ledecky said in an interview with NBC Sports. “I missed Li on the other side of me, but kudos to her for getting in there. She’s been a great competitor all these years. Happy to get the medal. Really fast field. I think the fastest field first through fourth we’ve ever had.”
Ledecky was correct about the historic nature of this field, with the rankings in the eight-lap freestyle event affected significantly. Entering the evening, McIntosh, Australia’s Ariarne Titmus and Ledecky were the only women to ever break 3:59, but these results from Li and Pallister moved them to fourth and fifth, respectively, in history.
Li won her 11th World Championship medal and her third in the 400 free, having previously won bronze in 2017 and silver last year. “It was a surprise for me. I wasn’t expecting to be able to overtake Katie. I went about the race according to my strategy. In the last 100m, I saw that the gap between myself and her wasn’t too big, so I thought, ‘Let’s give it a go,’” Li said.
“She may not be at her peak form now, but this result is still very significant and meaningful to me. I’ve looked up to her since I was a young athlete. I’ve had this dream since 2017, and Katie has always been someone I view as a great athlete. I’ve learnt so much from watching her swim. This result today, it’s given me a lot to think about.”
For Ledecky, this medal was her 27th at the World Championships, tying her with Ryan Lochte for second all-time in total medals at the meet. Only Michael Phelps has more with his 33 medals. Ledecky is expected to add three more medals to her collection this week in the 800 and 1500 free plus the 800 free relay.
