TORONTO – Even Summer McIntosh had a hard time believing what she had just accomplished.
The 16-year-old Torontonian set her second world record in five days at the 2003 Bell Canadian Swimming Trials, winning the women’s 400-m individual medley in 4:25.87 Saturday evening at the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre.
“I’ve been hoping to get a world record, especially in the 400 IM, since I was probably 11 years old,” said McIntosh, who won gold in the event at the 2022 world championships and Commonwealth Games. “To now actually achieve it is something that kind of blows my mind.
“To be honest, I never thought I would actually break a world record. Going into tonight, I knew it might have been a possibility. But I was really just trying to focus on executing a good race, technique wise, and give it all I had.”
The Tokyo Olympian became the first woman in history to go under 4:26.00 in the event. Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu held the previous World Aquatics standard of 4:26.36 since the 2016 Rio Olympics.
McIntosh had kicked off the Trials on Tuesday with her first career world mark in the 400 freestyle. In her other two events so far this week, the 200 butterfly and 200 IM, she posted Canadian and junior world records.
She is the first person to ever hold long-course world records in both the 400 IM and 400 free.
She is also the first Canadian since Alex Baumann in 1984 (200 and 400 IM) to hold two long-course world records at the same time, and the first Canadian woman to accomplish the feat since Elaine Tanner in 1967 (100 and 200 back).
McIntosh was under world record pace through the butterfly and backstroke legs, and the crowd of more than 1,000 cheered “Go!” on her every breath during the breaststroke. She fell behind Hosszu`s pace during the breaststroke, and was still a half-second off at the final turn before the crowd willed her to a split of 29.69 and the new world mark.
“I heard the crowd. That’s the first time I really vividly heard the crowd during my race, especially in the breaststroke,” said the Etobicoke Swim Club product, who now trains in Florida with coach Brent Arckey`s Sarasota Sharks. “It’s amazing to have all my family and friends in the stands cheering me on. It really helped me that last 100 metres.”
Sydney Pickrem also met the qualifying time for the 2023 World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, Japan (July 14-30), finishing second in 4:39.81. The two-time Olympian had already qualified earlier this week in the 200 IM and 200 breast.
In the men’s 400 IM, Canada will have two representatives at worlds for the first time since 2009 in Rome.
Lorne Wigginton, a 17-year-old from the University of Calgary Swim Club, won Saturday’s final in a personal best 4:16.14, with Collyn Gagne of Milton, Ont., placing second in 4:17.44, also a PB.
Wigginton is heading to his first world championships, while defending Trials champion Gagne was 14th in the 400 IM at Budapest 2022.
“I knew I could do it, it’s just actually happening is kind of crazy really,” Wigginton said. “I didn’t think I would be here this soon in my life so to get here is really overwhelming.
Wigginton was proud to be joining the rising tide of Canada`s men`s team.
“We haven’t seen (two men in the event) in a long time so it’s super special. I know Josh (Liendo) said, ‘We’re not coming, we’re here.’ We’re getting better and better as the week goes on. We’re here and we’re going to be good.”
Gagne, from Simon Fraser Aquatics, said he got some unexpected help to achieve the world standard for the second straight year.
“My goggles leaked early on in the race so I couldn’t look at (the other swimmers), which sounds bad, but it might have been a good thing. I didn’t want to make my race entirely just about racing other people. I wanted to stick to my plan, learn from my mistakes from last year. I think I did that well, and maybe the goggles leaking helped.”
Also qualifying for his first career worlds on Day 5 was 19-year-old Hugh McNeill of Langley, B.C., who won the men’s 200 backstroke in 1:58.07, more than 1.5 seconds faster than his previous best of 1:59.58 set at the U SPORTS championships in February.
“I was hoping and dreaming but honestly, I didn’t think I would be able to get it,” said the University of British Columbia swimmer. “I do a lot of work so that I can get almost even splits, and that helped.”
In the women’s 200 back, Kylie Masse of LaSalle, Ont., clocked 2:07.13, the third-fastest time in the world this year, to win the rubber match of her friendly rivalry series against national team teammate Ingrid Wilm of Calgary.
Wilm also swam under the world standard, in 2:10.19, to lower her previous personal best of 2:11.61 set at last year’s Trials.
Earlier in the week, Wilm had out-touched Masse in the 100 back on opening night, with the latter returning the favour 24 hours later in the 50.
“I’m feeling really good,” said the 27-year-old Masse, who set the Canadian record of 2:05.42 at Tokyo 2020 to claim Olympic silver in the 200. “To put together that race is something that I was kind of skeptical of to be honest coming into this meet just with everything going on.”
Asked what’s next for her, Masse, who also captured world short-course bronze last December, said she would be taking a few days off and then get right back to work.
“There’s a lot of time before worlds but at the same time, there’s not, so definitely taking a look at my performances here, kind of putting things in perspective. Looking at what I want to work on, what my goals are for the next couple of months because I want to be faster at worlds for sure.”
In the Para swimming events, Jordan Tucker, an S4 swimmer from Royal City Aquatics, won the women’s multi-class 150 IM in 3:50.52.
“I have a nice coach that taught me a bunch of new techniques,” said Tucker of Guelph, Ont. “It means the world to me to swim it and see what I could do.”
Tess Routliffe of Caledon, Ont., who trains at the High Performance Centre-Quebec in Montreal, won the women’s multi-class 200 IM in 3:07.21. The time was below the qualifying standard the S7 swimmer needed for this summer’s Para World Championships.
“It’s really a good stepping stone for where we are,” said Routliffe, who missed the Tokyo Paralympics due to a major back injury but recovered to claim silver in the 200 IM S7 at the 2022 worlds in Madeira, Portugal. “I think we came into this meet expecting some good results and we’re just working with what we’ve got.
“There’s a lot of room for improvement. We’re ready for the next couple of months.”
Nick Bennett, an S14 swimmer from Parksville, B.C., who trains with the Ravensong Aquatic Club, won the men’s multi-class 200 IM in 2:10.71, also below the qualifying standard.
“Right now we’re just setting ourselves up,” said the Tokyo Paralympian, who captured silver in the event at Madeira 2022. “It’s really just indulging me for worlds.”
Two Canadian records also fell.
Alisson Gobeil of Alma, Que., set an S5 mark of 4:36.67 in the morning preliminaries of the 200 IM. That bettered the 4:37.73 set in March by Hannah Ouellette of Saskatoon.
Gobeil, who swims for Club Juvaqua Alma, had also set a Canadian record in the S5 50 free on Friday.
Tyson Jacob of Granby, Que., swam 4:00,92 in the men’s 200 IM final, breaking the S5 record of 4:07,63 Andrew Cooke set in 2014.
The six-day Bell Canadian Swimming Trials run through Sunday at TPASC with preliminary heats at 9:30 a.m. each day and finals sessions set for 6 p.m.
A total of 623 athletes from 148 clubs across the country are in action competing for spots on this summer’s national teams. Teams will be selected for:
• World Aquatics Championships July 14-30 in Fukuoka, Japan
• World Para Swimming Championships July 31-Aug. 6 in Manchester, England
• World Junior Swimming Championships Sept. 4-9 in Netanya, Israel
• Pan American Games Oct. 23-Nov. 5 in Santiago, Chile
All sessions are being streamed live on CBC Sports digital platforms. Live streams can be watched via the free CBC Gem streaming service, at cbcsports.ca and the CBC Sports app for iOS and Android devices.
For full meet information, including live results, visit: https://www.swimming.ca/en/events-results/events/2023-bell-canadian-swimming-trials/
Tickets are still available as both general admission and reserved seats at: https://www.ticketmaster.ca/swimming-canada-natation-canada-tickets/artist/2708444
NOTE: The World Aquatics Championships team will be named on Sunday evening… The World Junior Swimming Championships and Pan American Games teams will be named next week… The World Para Swimming Championships team will be named at a later date…
PHOTOS :
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/no13d30aiekjcml9yodrc/h?dl=0&rlkey=vdckbdsh6pqntoy71n5a7rku1
Crédit photos : Gracieuseté de Natation Canada/Nom du photographe
Nathan White
Senior Manager, Communications
Gestionnaire supérieur des communications
Swimming Canada Natation
t. 613 260 1348 Ext 2002
m. 613 866 7946
w. swimming.ca | natation.ca