Canadian swimming superstar Summer McIntosh has taken the second of five golden steps towards matching the great Michael Phelps.
McIntosh reigned supreme again as she won the women’s 200m individual medley, her second victory in two nights, at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships on Monday, 28 July.
Just 24 hours after sealing her maiden 400m freestyle world title, the 18-year-old looked fresh when posting a winning time of 2:06.69 to beat USA’s Alex Walsh inside Singapore’s World Championships Arena.
The Paris 2024 Olympic champion and world record holder is looking to join American Phelps as the only swimmer to win five individual titles at a single world championships.
Meanwhile, the 12-year-old Yu Zidi of the People’s Republic of China, racing in her first world final – two years younger than McIntosh was at 14 – narrowly missed out on a medal.
Yu’s time of 2:09.21 was just 0.06 seconds behind bronze medallist Mary-Sophie Harvey, while it was Walsh who pushed McIntosh the closest to take home the silver.
McIntosh led the way after the first 50m butterfly and was more than a length ahead after the backstroke.
Not willing to give up, Walsh then powered back to gain a second on the breaststroke leg to setup a grandstand freestyle finish.
That merely kicked McIntosh into action however as the Canadian finished almost two seconds clear of her nearest rival.
“Going into tonight my goal was hitting the wall first,” McIntosh said.
“I’m not super happy with the time, but honestly at a world championships my goal is just to see how fast I can go against my competitors and not really focus on too much else.
“Still happy with my gold. Just trying to continue my streak.”
With three more individual golds in her sights, McIntosh’s schedule resumes on Wednesday with the 200m butterfly heats and semi-finals, with that final then on Thursday.
The 800m freestyle heats are on Friday, the final on Saturday, with the 400m medley and final both taking place on Sunday.