Two World Records in One Meet? Summer McIntosh Double is First in Four Years
The performance by Summer McIntosh at this week’s Canadian Trials has been simply legendary. With one session still to go, the 16-year-old has broken world records in the 400 freestyle and 400 IM along with world junior records in the 200 IM and 200 butterfly. Her times in the latter two events also surpassed the world-title-winning marks in both races from last year.
Simply, this has been one of the best single-meet performances by a swimmer ever, and that’s not hyperbole. Yes, this is only a national-level meet without international gold medals on the line, but these are world records, and the previous records she is surpassing are stunning in their own right. Ariarne Titmus worked for years to reach Katie Ledecky’s unimaginable standard in the 400 free, and Katinka Hosszu was two seconds ahead of any other swimmer ever in the 400 IM. And now, McIntosh has both marks.
And she is the first swimmer in four years to lower multiple individual long course world records at one meet. The previous swimmer to hit two marks in one meet was Regan Smith, then 18, who broke records in the 200 backstroke and 100 backstroke at the 2019 World Championships. In fact, since full-body polyurethane suits were banned from the sport at the end of 2009, only four women have achieved such world record success at once. It should be no surprise that Katie Ledecky has done so five times, and the other swimmers on the list are Sarah Sjostrom and Lilly King.
Two Long Course World Records at One Meet, 2010-Present
- Katie Ledecky, 1500 free & 800 free, 2013 World Championships
- Katie Ledecky, 1500 free & 800 free, 2014 Woodlands Invitational
- Katie Ledecky, 400 free & 1500 free, 2014 Pan Pacific Championships
- Katie Ledecky, 1500 free (twice) & 800 free, 2015 World Championships
- Katie Ledecky, 400 free & 800 free, 2016 Olympics
- Sarah Sjostrom, 100 free & 50 free, 2017 World Championships
- Lilly King, 100 breast & 50 breast, 2017 World Championships
- Regan Smith, 200 back & 100 back, 2019 World Championships
- Summer McIntosh, 400 free & 400 IM, 2023 Canadian Trials
So, yes, McIntosh is joining elite company. All of these efforts took place at major international competitions except for Ledecky’s second entry on the list in 2014 and McIntosh’s this week. The only man to have accomplished the feat of multiple world records at one meet in the last 13 years is Great Britain’s Adam Peaty, but on both occasions, he broke the same world record twice in one meet (100 breast at the 2016 Olympics, 50 breast at the 2017 World Championships) rather than records in multiple events.