FLASH! Regan Smith Takes Down 200 Back World Record, Completes 50-100-200 Sweep; McIntosh Sets WJR
Her earlier wins in the 50 and 100 backstroke were not particularly close, but as Regan Smith aimed to win her third backstroke gold medal of the Short Course World Championships, she faced a familiar foe in unfamiliar territory. But even Summer McIntosh was no match for Smith in the 200 back final.
McIntosh was racing the 200 back for the first time at a global-level international competition, and she had already set three individual world records in Budapest on her way to gold in the 400 freestyle, 200 butterfly and 400 IM. That 200 fly win came at Smith’s expense, and then McIntosh’s four-second annihilation of the 400 IM world record Saturday hinted that she might have something special in store in the 200 back.
Instead, Smith grabbed the race by the horns and never let up. Smith was already a half-second clear of the field after 50 meters and under world-record pace, and the margin was 1.22 seconds at the halfway point. McIntosh was unable to close the gap on even a single length.
Smith continued to extend her margin on the world-record line, and she ended up breaking the world record she set at the Singapore stop of the World Cup last month by eight tenths with a time of 1:58.04. She now sits nine tenths ahead of history’s second-fastest swimmer, her Australian rival Kaylee McKeown.
“I was aiming for that world record tonight,” Smith said. “That was a very talented field, so that’s something that helps me a lot and made me push very hard. If I need to pick my favorite event, I’d choose this one. I have so much history in it, so it’s great to beat the world record here, too.”
McIntosh touched second in 1:59.96 to earn her fifth medal of the week, and her time set a world junior record, taking seven hundredths off a 13-year-old mark held by Missy Franklin. McIntosh is the seventh woman in history to break 2:00 in the event, joining Smith, McKeown, Katinka Hosszu, Minna Atherton, Daryna Zevina and Emily Seebohm. Notably, all these others on the list are first and foremost backstroke specialists.
“Going to this race, my goal was to see if I can take gold in it,” McIntosh said. “I can’t be too disappointed, it’s still a good time. I wanted to go break the 1:59 barrier. It’s kind of my debut in this event, so I can’t be too upset.”
Bronze went to neutral athlete Anastasiya Shkurdai, who surged on the final length to edge American Phoebe Bacon by two hundredths, 2:00.56 to 2:00.76.
