BUDAPEST, Hungary – Summer McIntosh set another world record and Ilya Kharun added a national mark of his own as Canada swept the 200-metre butterfly podium Thursday at the World Aquatics Swimming Championships (25m).
McIntosh’s time of 1:59.32 in the women’s race took down a 10-year-old standard set by Spain’s Mireia Belmonte Garcia (1:59.61). The 18-year-old Torontonian, who trains with Brent Arckey’s Sarasota (Fla.) Sharks, had advanced to the final with a world junior record 2:01.96 in her morning heat swim.
It’s the fifth career world record swim for McIntosh, who lowered the 400 freestyle mark Tuesday at the Duna Arena in Budapest, Hungary.
“Anytime I can have the chance to hopefully get a crack at one or break one, it’s always a fun time. I just try to soak it up because they don’t come around super often,” said McIntosh, who captured her first long course gold in the same event in this pool two years ago. “I love Budapest overall. It’s an amazing place to be and swim and I love this pool as well. The crowd’s always amazing and electric so feeding off that energy going into all my races definitely helps me get the best result.”
Kharun then followed with an impressive swim of his own, slamming the water in celebration after setting a championship record and lowering his Canadian mark to 1:48.24.
“I was so pumped with that, I really wanted to get first place and when I saw that number one on that board I was very happy and wanted to express myself,” said the 19-year-old Montreal native, whose heat swim of 1:50.11 was a short-lived national record.
The pair shared the top step of the podium in a combined medal ceremony as O Canada played for the second time this week.
With nine medals (3G-2S-4B), Canada sits second behind only Team USA’s 18 (9-6-3) at the halfway mark of the six-day world short-course championships.
Canada will look to add to its total in finals Friday, as four other Canadians moved through Thursday semifinals.
Mary-Sophie Harvey set a Canadian record (57.19) to advance through the women’s 100-m individual medley semis as third seed. Kate Douglass, a five-time Olympic medallist and 13-time world champion, was the only faster swimmer in their heat, taking second seed at 56.88. Fellow American Gretchen Walsh followed up with her fourth world record of the meet (55.71) in the second semi.
“First Canadian record in seven years. I feel young again,” said the 25-year-old, who trains with Greg Arkhurst at Montreal’s CAMO club. “Honestly I was pretty surprised with the time. I saw Kate and I was like, ‘Oh, I must be doing something good.’ So I’m really excited. Now I just need to clean up a little bit of stuff and try to go a little bit faster tomorrow night.”
The Trois-Rivieres, Que., native has two medals to her credit here, with bronze in the 400 free and women’s 4×100 free relay.
Sydney Pickrem also advanced, her time of 58.47 grabbing the eighth seed in Friday’s final. It’s Pickrem’s first major meet since taking on an assistant coach role at West Virginia University, where she trains around her full-time coaching schedule.
“I’m in a different world of swimming than I’ve ever been and it’s been very interesting to go through the meet with that kind of mindset,” said the 27-year-old, who earned her 13th career world medal as part of the women’s 4×100 freestyle relay Tuesday. “I’m trying to see how fast I can get with that outlook on how I’m swimming now. To finally race, there’s been some emotional ups and downs and I’m like, ‘Is this what it’s supposed to be?’ Trying to manage that has been something really new and I’m happy that I get another final and to represent the university that I coach for.”
Earlier in the evening, Ingrid Wilm and Kylie Masse advanced through the women’s 50-m backstroke semifinals.
Wilm has three medals here already, with a bronze in 100 back and two more in relays thanks to stepping up as a freestyle swimmer. She continued her momentum with a personal best of 25.81 in her 10th swim of the meet to advance to Friday’s final in third.
“It’s the second time I’ve ever been under 26, so really happy with that,” said Wilm, 26, who trains with Dave Johnson at Calgary’s Cascade Swim Club. “I honestly think swimming the relays, forcing myself for the team to have faster, quicker underwaters has really helped me for that and is translating, hopefully, very well on to the 50 back.”
Masse was right behind Wilm in 25.98 to take fourth seed in the final. The 28-year-old from LaSalle, Ont., won long-course gold in the distance in this pool two years ago. She helped the mixed 4×50 medley relay to bronze Wednesday for her 19th career world medal, equalling Maggie Mac Neil for most all time among Canadians.
In the men’s 50 back, Finlay Knox lowered the Canadian record with his second personal best of the day (23.03) to move up to ninth in his semifinal after qualifying in 15th. The Okotoks, Alta., native, who trains with Scott Talbot at the High Performance Centre – Vancouver, took 200 IM bronze Tuesday.
Fans can watch a comprehensive stream of finals on CBC Gem and https://www.cbc.ca/sports Friday, beginning at approximately 11:25 a.m. ET each day. Anastasia Bucsis will host, with Rio 2016 Olympic swimming medallist Brittany MacLean providing analysis. Rob Snoek will call play-by-play of the races, joined by MacLean as colour analyst. The stream will also be available with international commentators Saturday and Sunday beginning at 11:30 a.m. All six days of preliminaries will also be available with international commentary beginning at 3 a.m. ET each day.
CBC TV will feature a highlight show Saturday from 4-6 p.m. ET with top performances from the first five days of competition voiced by Snoek and MacLean. The following Saturday, Dec. 21., will feature Day 6 highlights from 1-2 p.m. ET.
Swimming Canada and @cbcolympics will also be posting content across their digital platforms, including a live post-finals show on CBC Sports YouTube hosted by MacLean and on-site reporter Devin Heroux.
Full results: https://www.omegatiming.com/2024/world-aquatics-swimming-championships-25m-live-results