Summer McIntosh delivered one of the greatest swims in history during last week’s Canadian Swimming Trials in Montreal, breaking the oldest women’s world record on the books.
McIntosh unleashed a time of 2:01.65 in the final of the women’s 200 fly, lowering the 17-year-old super-suited world record of 2:01.81 set by China’s Liu Zige in 2009.
The performance came after McIntosh had a few close calls with the record last year, clocking 2:02.26 at the 2025 Canadian Trials and then dropping the second swim ever under 2:02 at the 2025 World Championships in 2:01.99.
The 18-year-old now owns four of the top five performances in history, having also gone 2:02.62 last December at the 2025 U.S. Open.
All-Time Performances, Women’s 200 Butterfly (LCM)
- Summer McIntosh (CAN), 2:01.65 – 2026 Canadian Swimming Trials
- Liu Zige (CHN), 2:01.81 – 2009 Chinese National Games
- Summer McIntosh (CAN), 2:01.99 – 2025 World Championships
- Summer McIntosh (CAN), 2:02.26 – 2025 Canadian Swimming Trials
- Summer McIntosh (CAN), 2:02.62 – 2025 U.S. Open
Compared to her swim from last year’s World Championships, McIntosh made the biggest gain on the second 50, while relative to Liu’s swim from 2009, McIntosh’s third 50 was the difference-maker, out-splitting her by six-tenths.
Split Comparison
| Liu, 2009 | McIntosh, 2025 | McIntosh, 2026 |
| 27.19 | 27.22 | 27.45 |
| 58.08 (30.89) | 58.41 (31.19) | 58.21 (30.76) |
| 1:30.20 (32.12) | 1:30.00 (31.59) | 1:29.73 (31.52) |
| 2:01.81 (31.61) | 2:01.99 (31.99) | 2:01.65 (31.92) |
RACE VIDEO
For Canadian Viewers – courtesy of CBC Sports on YouTube
For non-Canadian viewers – World Aquatics on YouTube
McIntosh used an increased stroke rate and a more disciplined breathing pattern to knock over three-tenths of a second off her previous best time and get her hands on the world record.
Those changes come after she made the move from Sarasota to join renowned coach Bob Bowman and his talented pro group at the University of Texas last fall.
The following day, McIntosh won the women’s 400 IM in a time of 4:27.35, the eighth-fastest swim of her career and the ninth-fastest performance of all-time, though she said post-race she wasn’t happy with the performance.
After the preliminary session on Day 3, she scratched out of the remainder of the meet due to an illness, hoping to get back to 100% in time for the Pan Pacific Championships in mid-August.
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