2024 Short Course World Championships
- December 10-15, 2024
- Duna Arena, Budapest, Hungary
- SCM (25m)
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- Prelims Live Recap: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3
- Finals Live Recap: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3
The season of Summer continues: Summer McIntosh earned her second gold in world record time at the 2024 Short Course World Championships as she cracked Mireia Belmonte Garcia’s decade-old mark. McIntosh swam a 1:59.32, lowering the world record by .29 seconds as she became just the second female swimmer to break the 2:00 mark in the event.
“My goal for tonight was to get under the two-minute barrier,” McIntosh said after her race. She began to approach that mark during prelims with a field-leading 2:01.96. Though she was still 1.96 seconds from the barrier, based on her incredible year and the 400 freestyle world record she swam on the first night in Budapest, it seemed likely she would achieve her goal.
McIntosh attacked from the start of the women’s 400 freestyle final on night one, building a lead on both the field and Li Bingjie’s world record. She had a similar race strategy in the 200 butterfly as she split 27.08 on the first 50 to begin her race .67 seconds under world record pace.
She extended her lead to 1.2 seconds over the next 50 meters, splitting 29.96 on the second 50 to touch in 57.04 at the race’s halfway point. Belmonte Garcia’s record line gained on her over the second 100 meters, as the Spanish Olympian split 30.72/30.65 during her swim.
McIntosh split 31.13/31.15; after the race, she said that while she doesn’t train a lot of butterfly during practice, she has “such a good aerobic base with [her] freestyle” that it helps with the second 100 of the 200 butterfly. And while Belmonte Garcia’s pace did creep up on her, McIntosh’s nearly even final two 50 splits kept her under world record pace and well ahead of the rest of the final.
Split Comparison:
| Summer McIntosh – New World Record | Mireia Belmonte Garcia – Former WR | |
| 50 | 27.08 | 27.75 |
| 100 | 57.04 (29.96) | 58.24 (30.49) |
| 150 | 1:28.17 (31.13) | 1:28.96 (30.72) |
| 200 | 1:59.32 (31.15) | 1:59.61 (30.65) |
This is McIntosh’s second individual gold in as many events in Budapest. She still has two individual events remaining, the 200 backstroke and 400 IM, along with relays for Team Canada. In the next event, her teammate Ilya Kharun won the men’s 200 butterfly world title, giving Canada a sweep of the 200 butterfly at these championships.
Mireia Belmonte was the HBIC in short course meters – she could close like a bullet train – and was the one person who had Katinka’s number almost every major meet in a 200 fly or 400 IM scm. At one point, she held the 400/800/1500 free and 400 IM scm world records simultaneously. That a generational talent like Summer was only able to take a few tenths off her world record (and she did it on the first 100) shows how fast she was.
Bobby Hurley made a great post-race comment that Summer does all the little things well, including adjusting her stroke to always end on a full stroke.
Indeed. It’s uncanny how she does that. That’s one area where Summer has a big edge on the Virginia women. There’s no such thing as a long glide to the wall in butterfly. But I think it’s instincts more than coaching. Summer senses it so early that it’s a small adjustment to each of the final 2 or 3 strokes, instead of an awkward short cramped extra stroke to finish.
Belmonte only has the SCM 400 IM WR now which is definitely under threat
Wonderful swim by Summer!
Really good swims by Regan and Lizzie to get on the podium and a gutsy swim by Alex before she faded on the last 50.
A very young field for the final with 4 teens and a 20 year old which bodes well for the future of women’s 200 fly.
Maybe once the meet is over, we could review all of McIntosh’s WJRs, I imagine there are over 25 across 8 events
Was her 400IM record never ratified or is that just swimswam? The records page says that Ye Shiwen still has it
It must be Swimswam, since she broke it twice and I believe they were ratified as WRs. There shouldn’t be any additional criteria for WJR ratification besides obviously the age limit.
She’s pretty good, eh
This may sound weird, but McIntosh is so pretty! She presents herself so well. I know looks don’t define someone, but the way she presents herself makes her beautiful.
It’s weird. Let’s not comment on the looks of a young sportswoman. She’s an athlete.
Meh idk if she said “s*xy” it would be unnecessary but to have a presentable appearance of any kind is actually quite lucrative in addition to being a star in your trade… and we should hope for prosperity for our top athletes in swimming and beyond. Monetizing is hard past retirement and being a model or something is a very viable option.
I agree though, maybe it would be better to say “she should be the face of swimming, since she’s so presentable AND fast” or something
She’s so good