BUDAPEST, Hungary – Toronto teenager Summer McIntosh won a silver medal in the women’s 400m freestyle at the World Championships on Saturday.
The 15-year-old was second only to veteran American swimmer Katie Ledecky
The Canadian women also won silver in the women’s 4 x 100 freestyle relay.
Ledecky defended his title in a time of three minutes and 38.15 seconds ahead of McIntosh in 3: 59.39, which was a Canadian record in the distance. American Leah Smith took bronze in 4: 02.08.
McIntosh was the youngest athlete on the Canadian team at last summer’s Olympics in Tokyo. At 14, she finished fourth in the 400 and fourth in the women’s 4 x 200 freestyle relay.
She became the first Canadian woman to win a 400-pound world championship medal and only the fourth in history to swim in under four minutes.
“I’ve definitely learned a lot over the last year,” McIntosh said. “(I learned) to run a 400 freestyle and I’m very happy with how I swam it. It gave me a lot of confidence. In the next two races.”
Ledecky, 25, won the 17th gold medal of his career at the World Championships.
“It’s a bit surreal,” McIntosh admitted. “I used to find Katie Ledecky’s quotes on the Internet and turn them into posters. as close as possible, it’s such a great experience I never thought I’d have. ”
Kayla Sanchez and Penny Oleksiak of Toronto, Taylor Ruck of Kelowna, BC, and Maggie Mac Neil of London, Ontario, finished second behind Australia in the 4 x 100 freestyle relay. These four women also won Olympic silver in Tokyo.
Oleksiak, whose triple medal in Tokyo made her the most decorated Olympic athlete in Canada with seven in her career, swam the leg of the anchor again.
“I was nervous, I hadn’t run seriously in a long time,” Oleksiak said. “It ended so fast. Overall, I think we feel safe.”
Canada finished 1.20 seconds behind the Australians and more than a second and a half ahead of the U.S. bronze medalist.
Oleksiak also set the record for most world championship medals won by a Canadian swimmer in her sixth year.
Katerine Savard of Montreal and Rebecca Smith of Red Deer, Alta., Swam the relay in the preliminary rounds and therefore also received medals.
Mac Neil, the reigning 100-meter butterfly Olympic champion, will only swim in relays in Budapest. I was glad to be able to run on Saturday,
“I had the biggest spasm of my life yesterday. It was definitely scary,” Mac Neil said. “But I knew I wanted to improve today and very quickly so I could do it for these girls.”
Canada won eight pool medals with two gold and six bronze medals, as well as an open water bronze, at the 2019 World Championships in South Korea.
On the seventh and final day of the World Paragliding Championships in Madeira, Portugal, the Canadian team won four medals to crown the event with 18 (six gold, five silver and eight bronze).
Nikita We of Meadow Lake, Sask., Won silver in the women’s 200m freestyle S3. Katarina Roxon of Kippens, NL, took bronze in the SB8 Women’s 100m breaststroke.
Aurelie Rivard, of Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que., Was third in the 100-meter backstroke S10, as was Alec Elliot of Kitchener, Ontario, in the same race on the men’s side.
Rivard was also a double gold medalist in Madeira with victories in the 50 and 100 freestyle.
The Canadian swimming team has won most medals in a single world championship since winning 21 in 2010.
“A lot of these guys will come back and start training again, and next year we’ll start counting for the 2024 Paris Paralympics,” said coach Mike Thompson. “We can’t rest on our laurels. We have to keep pushing, keep getting better.
“The first step will be to try to increase the size of the team we bring to Paris, and if we are able to do that, we will be in very good shape in 2024 and 2028.”
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on June 18, 2022.