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World Championships: Summer McIntosh Wins 4th Medal, 2nd Gold in 400 IM
It’s time to declare this, in your best George Costanza voice, the Summer of McIntosh.
Canadian phenom Summer McIntosh won her second gold medal, set her third World Junior Record and bagged her fourth total medal of the meet, with a winning time of 4:32.04.
McIntosh controlled the field most of the way, sharing the podium with a pair of Americans in Katie Grimes (second in 4:32.67) and Emma Weyant (4:36.00).
Fourth and just outside the medals was Hungarian home nation hero Katinka Hosszu, denied her fifth straight gold medal in the event.
First, McIntosh, who made the Olympics at 14 years old last year and has become a star with still more than a month before she turns 16. She’s been outstanding in this meet, displaying the diversity to swim just about anything over 200 meters or more. She won the women’s 200 fly in a Canadian and world junior record of 2:05.20. She earned silver in the 400 free behind Katie Ledecky, downing a national record in 3:59.39. She helped the Canadian 800 free relay win bronze, leading off in a world junior record 1:54.79 for the 200 free. She’s shown an age-grouper’s ability to drop time, only at speeds that are some of the top in the world.
“Backstroke I focused on my tempo, and the last 200, I definitely felt the whole meet,” McIntosh said. “Since it was the last day, I definitely felt, not the freshest in the water. But I just tried my best to get my hand on the wall first and I’m so happy with the placement.”
Saturday, McIntosh delivered the capstone performance. She was first at every wall and under world-record pace until the breaststroke leg. She led by nearly two seconds after 200 meters, needing that cushion to hold off the charge by Grimes on the final 100.
Grimes, hardly aged at 16, earned silver in 4:32.67. She was just behind McIntosh in the morning in 4:36s. Grimes came back in 1:00.89, nearly getting past McIntosh but ultimately .63 seconds shy. It adds to the silver medal Grimes won in the 1,500 free.
“I wasn’t super happy with the 4:36 this morning, and I knew I had some work to do tonight,” Grimes said. “I was just so happy to race with Emma. We always have such a good laugh. It was a great group of ladies, so I just had a great time.”
Weyant, the Olympic silver medalist in this event, had to wait until the final days of competition to get in the pool. She swam a composed race, well behind the two front-runners. A back-halfer, she was seventh at 100 meters and sixth after 200. But she rallied to third on the second half of the breaststroke leg and held onto that down the stretch.
She earned bronze by nearly two seconds. It’s the first time in 17 years that the U.S. won two medals in this event at the same Worlds, i.e., longer than either the gold or silver medalist has been alive.
The youth movement came at the expense of two established stars. Hosszu was looking for her fifth straight 400 IM title and sixth overall. She briefly flashed into the medal places at the 250-meter mark, but she faded to fifth by the 300. While she rallied to fourth, she never challenged Weyant for bronze.
In fifth was double Olympic champion Yui Ohashi in 4:37.99. Ohashi was 13th in the 200 IM.
Wouldn’t her 4:29 from earlier this year be the WJR?
I read elsewhere that the 4:29 wasn’t ratified; but it is in the USA Swimming TIMES database. Can you research and explain it to us all?