Summer McIntosh wins third gold medal at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships, missed out world record by 0.18 seconds

SINGAPORE: Canadian Summer McIntosh is still aiming to be the first woman to secure five gold medals at a single swimming world championships. She is on track to achieve this goal as she won her third gold medal at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships. 

In Singapore, the athlete finished the 200-metre butterfly race with a final time of 2:01.99. This was the second fastest ever recorded in the women’s 200 butterfly and also a new Canadian record. Moreover, she set the fastest 200-meter butterfly ever at the World Championships.

However, despite this remarkable feat, McIntosh missed breaking the world record by merely 0.18 seconds. Evidently, the athlete was seen frustrated after the race when she failed to beat the record. The world record still belongs to Zige Liu, who finished it with a final time of 2:01.81. 

American Regan Smith placed second with a final time of 2:04.99, which was three seconds slower than McIntosh’s.

On Reddit, netizens shared their reactions and opinions on McIntosh’s performance. One netizen expressed: “As always, another great swim from McIntosh. You could tell after the first 50 meters she was going to win the race, the question was by how much? Partway through the race, she was pretty close to breaking the world record. However, a championship record, and also the 2nd fastest time overall in the 200m butterfly is still very impressive… She’s now got 3 gold medals out of her 5 medal goal — only has 800-m freestyle and 400-m individual medley to go, the former which will be against USA’s Katie Ledecky and will likely be another thrilling race.” 

Another netizen declared: “Disappointed she didn’t break the world record. That’s the drive of a true champion.” This comment gained a response from another Redditor that stated: “She’s still only 18, so there is still a very high chance of her breaking that record — she did come pretty close to it, and at one point was just ahead of the record time… Regardless, to break a championship record, and have the 2nd fastest time overall is still a very good achievement.” 

On social media, McIntosh shared: “Forever my favourite race🦋 🥇2:01.99 – New Canadian Record…200m Fly.” 

 

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A post shared by Summer McIntosh (@summerrmcintosh)

Netizens flooded the comments with praise and encouragement. Many called her an “absolute icon,” while others urged her to keep pushing, saying she was a true champion. One user wrote, “Almost, almost world record. Keep on pushing yourself to get that 🙌🙌🙌.” Another added, “Girl, we all saw your face — you’ll get there. It’s a matter of when, not if💪🏼”