Photo : AFP

Canadian swimmer Summer McIntosh made history on Saturday at the Canadian Swimming Trials in Victoria, British Columbia. The 18-year-old broke the world record in the women's 400 metres freestyle event, finishing with a time of 3 minutes and 54.18 seconds. This beat the previous record held by Australian swimmer Ariarne Titmus, who set the time of 3 minutes and 55.38 seconds at the 2023 World Championships in Japan.

Before the race, McIntosh felt confident because she had trained very hard in the past few months, the public broadcaster, that she didn’t expect to swim as fast as 54.1 seconds for the last 100 meters, but she was very happy with her performance.

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Summer McIntosh is already a well-known athlete. At the Paris Olympics, she made history by becoming the first Canadian to win three gold medals at one Olympic Games. She won gold medals in the 400 metres individual medley, 200 butterfly, and 200 individual medley. She also won a silver medal in the 400 metres freestyle.

However, the Canadian trials felt different to her. She said she felt very strong during the race, which was unusual for her in the 400 freestyle. Usually, she feels very tired and hurts during the last 100 meters. But this time, after turning at the 200-meter mark, she felt like she was “cruising” and knew she was swimming well.

McIntosh also noticed the crowd cheering loudly, which helped her realize she was close to breaking the world record. That gave her extra energy to push hard in the final part of the race and finish with a new world best time.

Her amazing swim is a sign that McIntosh is in great shape and ready for more big competitions ahead.