Commonwealth Games: Summer McIntosh Goes 4:29 Again in Dominating 400 IM
A summer of potential for Summer McIntosh has turned into a summer of excellence. The latest installment Friday at the first night session of the Commonwealth Games can only be described as Ledeckyian in its dominance.
McIntosh obliterated the field in the final of the 400 IM, winning gold in a time of 4:29.01. It trims a tenth of a second off the 4:29.12 she turned in in March.
The swim is a Commonwealth Games record. It lowers McIntosh’s Canadian, world junior and Americas records. It’s faster by three seconds than the 4:32.04 she used last month to win the World Championship in Budapest.
Her time was 7.77 seconds ahead of runner-up Kiah Melverton. It was six seconds quicker than what Aimee Wilmott used to win gold at the last Commonwealth Games. And it was three seconds quicker than the time that Yui Ohashi, a year ago to the day, used to win the 400 IM at the Tokyo Olympics.
GOLD FOR CANADA ??
Summer McIntosh, 15, has done it again. She breaks the Commonwealth Games record in the 400IM to win gold.
4:29.01
That’s now World Championship gold and Commonwealth gold in this event, one month apart. Extraordinary swimming continues for Summer. pic.twitter.com/voHgsXoaCY
— Devin Heroux (@Devin_Heroux) July 29, 2022
It improves her standing as the third fastest performer of all time. Only Katinka Hosszu’s record of 4:26.36 and the swim of Ye Shiwen from the 2008 Olympics (4:28.43) are still out there for McIntosh to conquer.
Did we mention she’s still just 15 years old? She was able to capitalize on what she called “a buzz” in the crowd in Birmingham.
‘’Overall, I’m happy with how I swam the race and how I felt with it,’’ McIntosh said in a Swimming Canada release. ‘’Since the worlds I’ve worked on ways on how I could improve the race and I know there’s still room to get better.’’
McIntosh’s splits:
Melverton grabbed silver in 4:36.78. Katie Shanahan, representing Scotland, grabbed bronze in 4:39.37 out of lane 1. After McIntosh’s blistering pace, the last six finishers were clustered within three seconds.
McIntosh had grabbed the top seed in prelims at 4:36.72, with Melverton and McIntosh’s fellow Canadian Ella Jensen in third. She landed fifth in finals, behind England’s Freya Colbert.
McIntosh won the 400 IM at worlds in 4:32.04. Jenna Forrester, who snuck into the final in eighth, was the only other Commonwealth swimmer represented in the Worlds final, having finished seventh. She was sixth Friday.
Summer McIntosh is going to be a singular athlete in the sport – she’s only 15 and will get bigger and stronger and more comfortable racing at this level…