Summer McIntosh Pulls Away From Katie Ledecky For World Junior Record, US Open Record
The 2023 TYR Pro Swim Series stop in Fort Lauderdale continued with the Day 3 finals from Fort Lauderdale Aquatic Center at the site of the International Swimming Hall of Fame (ISHOF) and continued in record-breaking fashion.
The clash between Katie Ledecky and Summer McIntosh in the 200-meter freestyle had been expected and highly anticipated. Both swimmers are doing some different events at this meet, so are not squaring off head-to-head in a bunch of events as in some previous meets.
Day 3 of the finals started with this showdown.
Summer McIntosh finished in 1:54.13 to break the World Junior Record, U.S. Open. It was her second World Junior Record in as many days. It also was the first time anyone beat Ledecky in a U.S. pool in nine years (in the 200 free or longer).
‘’I’m really happy with that swim but it hurts really bad,’’ said McIntosh. ‘’Overall today I just wanted to see how I could manage the 200 free at this point in the season and with Katie in the race I had a big challenge ahead of me.’’
Ledecky was just behind in 1:54.96. She went on to win the 400 IM.
The final was stacked with six Olympians and two more national team members.
Hong Kong’s Siobhan Haughey took third in 1:55.53, followed by Regan Smith (1:58.14), Bella Sims (1:58.24), Ella Jansen (1:58.30), Leah Smith (1:58.41) and Claire Weinstein (1:59.12).
“It was a long day – a good day. I was happy with the 200 free. I can’t complain about a 1:54 right now. It was a great race with Summer and Siobhan and the whole heat,” Ledecky said. “The 400 IM was good. I was a couple hundredths faster than Knoxville. I was really happy with that.”
Summer McIntosh led at the 50 free and the 100 with Ledecky right with her. She had a huge final turn and began to pull away from Ledecky.
“It has been a lot of fun to race Summer. It is crazy that we train in the same state, really close to one another, and we have been able to race a lot of these meets, and I think it has brought out the best in both of us,” Ledecky said. “Every time we get up and race, we know we are both right there. It is going to make us better then next year and a half.”
OK, I’ll let everyone in on this secret: This was 200 free. How does this article not even mention the event? Who, what, where, when, and why…