World records are made to be broken.” Those were the confident, inspiring words from Canada’s teenage swimming star Summer McIntosh, who added yet another stunning chapter to her career on June 11 by setting her third world record in just a few days.
The 18-year-old phenom clocked an astonishing 4:23.65 in the 400m individual medley at the Canadian Swimming Trials in Victoria, demolishing her own previous world mark of 4:24.38 set in May 2023 in Toronto. Already a three-time Olympic gold medallist, McIntosh is proving she’s only getting better as she prepares for the upcoming World Championships in Singapore this July.
Her latest world-record swim unfolded in dramatic style. She surged ahead during the butterfly leg, hitting the halfway mark more than a second under world record pace. Although the margin narrowed slightly during the breaststroke, McIntosh delivered a lightning-fast freestyle finish to stop the clock more than half a second under her old record.
“Coming into tonight, I felt I could do something really special,” McIntosh said in a poolside interview. “This has probably been the best meet of my career so far.”
Reflecting on her motivation, she added: “World records are meant to be broken. When I leave this sport, I want to make sure that record is as fast as possible. That’s what drives me, because there’s always going to be the next generation coming up—and I want to give them something to chase.”
Her performance on June 11 capped off an extraordinary week in British Columbia. On June 7, McIntosh shattered the women’s 400m freestyle world record, besting Australian Ariarne Titmus’s 2023 mark by more than a second. The following day, she swam the third-fastest 800m freestyle in history. On June 9, she returned to break the long-standing 200m medley world record previously held by Hungarian legend Katinka Hosszu.
Now, with three new world records and historic momentum behind her, McIntosh will turn her focus to the World Championships in July. There, she’ll aim to build on her impressive collection of four world titles—and continue setting new standards for the sport.
