2025 Worlds, Day 2 North America Recap: Harvey, A. Walsh Pick Up Historic Medals in the 200 IM

2025 World Championships

• July 27 – August 3, 2025 (pool swimming)
• Singapore, Singapore
• World Aquatics Championships Arena
• LCM (50m)
• Meet Central
• How To Watch
• SwimSwam Preview Index
• Entry Book
• Live Results
• Live Recaps
  • Prelims: Day 1 | Day 2
  • Finals: Day 1 | Day 2

Day 2 of the 2025 World Championships saw plenty more action from the North American competitors. Highlighting the night was Canadian Summer McIntosh winning her 2nd gold medal of the meet in the 200 IM after claiming the title in the 400 Freestyle on night 1. Behind her, however, an even bigger story evolved with the silver and bronze medal winners, American Alex Walsh and Canadian Mary-Sophie Harvey.

McIntosh finished 1st in the race, posting a dominant 2:06.69. While she wasn’t quite as fast as her World Record performance of 2:05.70 from Canadian Trials, her time was still good for a nearly 2 second margin of victory. Behind her, Walsh touched the wall in 2:08.58 for a silver medal.

For Walsh, that finish marks two major milestones. Firstmost, it serves as her redemption in the event after being disqualified in the final at the 2024 Olympic Games last summer, where she initially won bronze. Second, Walsh’s swim makes her the first woman in US history to win three medals in the 200 IM at the World Championships. Aside from this year’s silver, Walsh claimed the gold medal in this event at the 2022 World Championships and picked up another silver in 2023. Notably, Walsh joins Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte as one of the only Americans to ever achieve three medals in the event at Worlds.

Back in third, Mary-Sophie Harvey hit the wall in a time of 2:09.15 to give the Canadians a 1-3 finish and solidify a North American podium sweep in the event. The bronze also marks a milestone for Harvey as the longtime star picked up her first individual medal at a LC World Championships meet. Previously, she had won several other bronze medals competing for Canada as a staple on the team’s relays, but had never found herself on the podium individually. Last December, Harvey claimed her first individual medals in the short course pool as well, with a silver and bronze at the 2024 SC World Championships.

Following her race, Harvey commented on the long journey she took to winning her first individual medal:

“This year, it has been really, really, really challenging, and at times I was wondering if I was gonna have a good meet here. Our main facility has been closed. I would drive five hours on Mondays to get to my trainings. I would sleep in my car in between training and eat there. And when it was minus 20 (degrees), I would sleep on people’s couches just to be able to do my trainings. I’ve done that for 10 months now, and it’s been really, really challenging to the point where I’m like, I can’t be at my 100% in training because I’m travelling so much.

“But I think it just shows that throughout adversity, if you keep showing up, you’re going to be rewarded by the end. It’s really exciting, because I feel like this is an off year for me, and stepping on the podium on an off year, I’m just excited for the rest, when my pool is going to be open and I’m going to be in better condition. I think it’s exciting for the three years ahead.”

Other Day 1 North American Highlights:

• Alex Walsh wasn’t the only Walsh sister to walk out of night 2 with a medal as Gretchen Walsh led the field in the 100 butterfly en route to her first individual LC Worlds title. Gretchen Walsh posted a time of 54.73 en route to the gold medal, the 2nd-fastest time in history and only a tenth off of her own World Record from May (54.60). Despite concerns about potential illness after she was scratched from the 4×100 freestyle relay last night, Walsh was dominant in the event, winning by over a second.
• Kate Douglass continued a string of great swims for the UVA women, taking the top seed in the 100 breaststroke final in a best time of 1:05.49. Douglass looks to be the lone American in the final after World Record holder Lilly King finished 9th in the semi-finals (1:06.26).
• Both the Canadians and the Americans will have two swimmers in the final of the women’s 100 backstroke. American Regan Smith led the field in the semis, touching first in her heat with a 58.21, with Canadian Kylie Masse touching 3rd in the heat en route to a 3rd place qualification (58.66). Katharine Berkoff was slightly off of her prelims performance in the other heat, but still easily posted a win in a time of 58.79, with Taylor Ruck coming in behind her for 2nd (59.18). There is a chance that either of the two countries could see two swimmers on the podium after the final.
• After relatively weak performances at the meet thus far, the American men finally saw two men get into a final, with Luke Hobson and Gabriel Jett qualifying for the 200 freestyle final in what could serve as a turning point for the team. Hobson qualified first with a 1:44.80 and will vie for his first World title in the final tomorrow. Jett, a first time member of Team USA, posted a 1:45.60 to narrowly make it back in 8th. With the entire field separated by less than a second, the race for a medal could still be anybody’s game.
• In prelims, Katie Ledecky threw down the top time in the 1500 freestyle, hitting the wall in a time of 15:36.68 to lead the field by 10 seconds. Ledecky’s time stands 11 seconds faster than her prelims time from the Paris Olympics last summer, so all eyes will be on her to make a splash in the final tomorrow.