Toronto's Summer McIntosh sets another world record at short-course championships

BUDAPEST — Summer McIntosh has set yet another world record.

The Toronto native won gold in the women's 400-metre medley at the World Short Course Swimming Championships on Saturday. She finished in four minutes, 15.48 seconds, nearly five seconds ahead of the next swimmer.

It is McIntosh's third gold medal and the third record she has set at the World Short Course Swimming Championships this week.

“It was super surreal. The crowd was extra energetic tonight," said McIntosh after four other records were set earlier in the day. "There’s a lot more people in the stands so feeding off that energy going into the final was a really fun way to do it. 

"I knew it was going to be one of the toughest world records to break." 

The 18-year-old McIntosh smashed the previous 400-metre medley mark of 4:18.94 set by Spain's Mireia Belmonte in August 2017. 

“To go 4:15 was definitely not in my wildest dreams, so overall I’m pretty happy with that,” she said.

McIntosh lowered the world standards in the 400 freestyle and 200 butterfly early in the week. With three world record swims this meet and six in her career, she turns her focus to the 200 backstroke — a new addition to her international program — as action wraps up Sunday.

Katie Grimes of the United States earned silver (4:20.14) and Great Britain's Abbie Wood (4:24.34) took bronze in the 400-metre medley.

Mary-Sophie Harvey of Trois-Rivières, Que., finished fourth in 4:26.09.

Harvey anchored Canada's mixed 4x100m medley relay team as it earned bronze. She touched the wall in 3:31.97 to earn a third-place finish with Calgary's Ingrid Wilm, Montreal's Ilya Kharun, and Finlay Knox of Okotoks, Alta.

"It’s been a really confidence-building event and I can’t wait to see how the rest of the year goes," said Wilm.

The Neutral Athletes B team (3:30.47) won gold, while the United States (3:30.55) took silver.