MONTREAL (AP) 鈥� Summer McIntosh broke the longest-standing individual women鈥檚 swimming world record Sunday night, finishing the 200-meter butterfly in 2 minutes 1.65 seconds at the Canadian trials.
The 19-year-old McIntosh broke the mark of 2:01.81 set by China’s Liu Zige in 2009 during what鈥檚 known as the super-suit era.
A three-time champion at the 2004 Paris Olympics, McIntosh slammed her fists into the water in celebration while smiling ear-to-ear as the crowd erupted inside the Olympic pool.
鈥淭hat was the one world record that I鈥檝e always dreamt of as a kid,鈥� McIntosh said. 鈥淭o now do it is really incredible.鈥�
McIntosh has long targeted the record, coming within 0.18 seconds with a time of 2:01.99 last year in the world championships.
鈥淚 could tell on the last 50 that I must have been close to the world record just based off how loud the crowd was,鈥� said McIntosh, who finished 8.5 seconds ahead of runner-up Mary-Sophie Harvey. 鈥淭hat really kept me going and motivated me to get to the wall.鈥�
The race Sunday was the first opportunity for many Canadian fans to see McIntosh compete since her high-profile move to train in Austin, Texas, under Bob Bowman, the coach who guided Michael Phelps to a record 23 Olympic gold medals.
鈥淚t鈥檚 always special,鈥� Bowman said. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e very few and far between, even with swimmers like Summer. It鈥檚 hard to get there. It鈥檚 fun to see her start the meet off that way. I think she鈥檒l have some other good events as well, so it should be fun.鈥�
McIntosh will compete in the 400 IM on Monday, the 400 free on Tuesday and the 200 IM on Wednesday ahead of the Pan Pacific Championships in Irvine, California.
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