Summer McIntosh of Toronto swam a time of 4:01.59 in the women’s 400-meter freestyle event at the 2022 Canadian Swimming Trials in Victoria, breaking her own Canadian record. Previously, she set the Canadian record of 4:02.42 set at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics last summer, where she secured 4th in the finals. This time she fought aggressively and shattered her own record.
The 15-year-old wasted zero time getting after it, split 27.75 on the first 50 meters, which was her fastest first 50 splits in her career. She kept the momentum rolling, finishing in 1:58.28 at the 200-meter mark. She ran the third and fourth 50s in 30.16 and 30.38, respectively. Furthermore, it appeared that Ledecky’s record would be in jeopardy at that stage in the race.
However, she slowed down in the second half, running 1:01.43 and 1:01.88 in the third and fourth 100 meters, respectively. In addition, McIntosh appeared to be on her way to breaking Katie Ledecky’s World Junior Record of 3:58.37 for a brief while, but she couldn’t stay up. Luckily for McIntosh, she still has a lot of time as a junior to work her way down to that level. But, when contrasting McIntosh to Ledecky, she is significantly under Ledecky’s best time from when she was 15, which is 4:04.43.
McIntosh was speedier on each of the first four 50 splits in the race, as the splits show. She was also a fraction of a second faster in the final 100 meters. Aside from the world record, McIntosh finished third in the event this year, beating only Ariarne Titmus and Katie Ledecky, who also happen to be the two fastest women in the event of all time.