World Championships, Day 1 Finals: Summer McIntosh Pulls Away for First Singapore Gold in 400 Free; Li Bingjie Edges Katie Ledecky for Silver
A potentially historic week is underway for Canada’s Summer McIntosh, and the effort was wire-to-wire in the women’s 400 freestyle. Seven weeks removed from breaking three world records and approaching two others at Canadian Trials, McIntosh is widely considered the world’s best female swimmer, poised for a stunning collection of honors on the global stage.
In her first final, McIntosh secured her fifth world title and first ever in a freestyle event, upstaging the great Katie Ledecky and one of the fastest fields in history.
McIntosh and Australia’s Lani Pallister flipped even at the 50-meter mark, and from there, she steadily built a lead that stretched to almost two seconds by the finish. The 18-year-old was never in contention for the ridiculous world record of 3:54.18 she posted last month in Victoria, but the time was still quicker than all but one swimmer in history.
McIntosh came in at 3:56.26, the fifth-fastest performance in history. After the race, it was on to further business as she dashed out of the pool to prepare for a semifinal contest in the 200 IM.
As the Canadian pulled away for an easy win, a back-and-forth battle developed for the medals. Pallister held down second place for the first half of the race before Ledecky moved into that spot on the fifth length. Ledecky appeared to be in position to win silver, but she was unable to turn on the jets on the final length as China’s Li Bingjie surged.
Li touched in 3:58.21, obliterating her previous Asian record of 3:59.99 set in April. Ledecky was third in 3:58.49 while Pallister came in just behind at 3:58.87. It was a big gap back to Isabel Gose in fifth place (4:02.90).
“I was a little too focused on the race on one side,” Ledecky said in an interview with NBC Sports. “I missed Li on the other side of me, but kudos to her for getting in there. She’s been a great competitor all these years. Happy to get the medal. Really fast field. I think the fastest field first through fourth we’ve ever had.”
