FUKUOKA, Japan — Summer McIntosh became a double gold medallist at the world aquatics championships with Sunday's victory in the women's 400-metre individual medley.
After taking the 200-metre butterfly earlier in the competition, the 16-year-old from Toronto clocked four minutes, 27.11 seconds for the third-fastest time in history.
McIntosh's time was also just off her world record of 4:25.87 set in April's national trials.
“Going into tonight I just wanted to see how hard I could push myself,” McIntosh said. "Overall, I’m really happy with tonight and my whole meet."
Katie Grimes of the U.S. of the U.S. was second in 4:31.41 and Australia's Jenna Forrester took the bronze medal in 4:32.30.
McIntosh also swam the freestyle anchor leg to help Canada claim bronze in the women's 4 x 100 medley relay behind gold-medallist United States and runner-up Australia.
McIntosh's two world titles in Fukuoka gives her a career four.
She totalled four medals in Fukuoka with a bronze in the women's 200-metre freestyle.
She was fourth in the 400-metre freestyle, in which she held the world record until Australia's Ariarne Titmus bested the Canadian's mark.
“It was definitely motivating,” McIntosh said. “I try to turn everything that goes wrong into motivation somehow. I’ve learned so much strategically with my races and where I can improve and continue to grow.”
McIntosh will be one to watch at next year's Olympic Games in Paris, but "right now I'm just thinking about a little break,” she said.
The Americans posted a winning relay time of 3:52.08, followed by Australia (3:53.37) and Canada (3:54.12).
Kylie Masse of LaSalle, Ont., Sophie Angus of Weston, Conn., and Maggie Mac Neil of London, Ont., joined McIntosh in Sunday's final and qualified the relay for Paris.
Calgary's Ingrid Wilm and Mary-Sophie Harvey of Trois-Rivieres, Que., raced for McIntosh and Masse in the morning heats.
Mac Neil also won a silver medal in the women's 100-metre butterfly earlier in the meet.
"I had to get my head back in the game and know that it’s my last one for the year and I just wanted to leave it in the pool," Mac Neil said. “After this morning, we realized that we had a legit shot, and I'm really impressed with the performances that we were all able to put together.
"I mean, for Kylie, for me, for Sophie, and Summer, those are our best splits, or swims, of the entire year, so to be able to pull that out is just incredible.”
Masse's relay bronze gave her a career nine world championship medals to tie with Penny Oleksiak for most by a Canadian.
Oleksiak withdrew from the world championship to concentrate on rehabilitation from last summer's knee surgery, as well as heal a shoulder injury that's cropped up since then.
Masse placed fourth twice and fifth in her individual races in Japan.
“It’s been a challenge for me and always coming in on the last day with the relay is tough, but I wanted to do it for the girls and obviously clinching a spot for Paris 2024 was the goal for this meet," Masse said.
"To be able to achieve that is a really great motivator and I think we’re all looking forward to next year."
Canada capped the swim competition at the 2023 world aquatics championship with six medals: two gold, two silver, and two bronze.
Toronto's Josh Liendo claimed silver in the men's 100-metre butterfly.
“Coming away with six medals at the world championships, all in Olympic events, with four fourths in Olympic events and five overall, and four fifth places, that’s 14 top five positions going into an Olympic year, which puts us in a really strong position,” said Swimming Canada's high-performance director John Atkinson.
“Every time you’re at a world championships there are highs and there are bumps. Our athletes showed great resilience in order to bounce back after some of the bumps and show what they can do on the world stage.”
Liendo, Toronto's Ruslan Gaziev and Javier Acevedo and James Dergousoff of Christina Lake, B.C., placed seventh in the men's medley relay.
“We came here to do a job in relays," Atkinson said. "Seven out of eight relays made the final, and six Olympic relays made the final. One earned a medal to qualify for the Olympic Games, and the others put us in good position heading into the Doha 2024 world aquatics championships."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 30, 2023.
The Canadian Press