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Summer McIntosh - English
Swimming - English
There was no checkmate for the queen. Katie Ledecky was crowned world champion in the 800m freestyle, this time in Singapore, for the seventh time in her life. The first time she achieved this was in 2013, more than a decade ago.
The American set a time of 8:05.62, a championship record, and left the great contender Summer McIntosh almost two seconds behind (8:07.29), in third place. Between them, who were supposed to be the protagonists, was Australia’s Lani Pallister, with an Oceania record (8:05.98).
Full video of Katie Ledecky and Ariarne Titmus Olympic swimming lane controversy
The showdown promised to be epic. Both swimmers had been able to go under 8:06.00 during this season. Ledecky even surpassed her own legendary recordof the distance, achieved at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games: then, she recorded 8:04.79; now, almost a decade later, the American clocked 8:04.12.
And this same World Championships had added more excitement to their rivalry after the head-to-head in the 400 meters freestyle, which the Canadian won by more than two seconds.
In that 400, the shortest of the distance events, McIntosh did not set the best time in the heats (4:03.11, compared to Ledecky’s 4:01.04), but only because she knew how to manage her energies to destroy her rivals in the final. In the 800 meters, the young Canadian openly admitted that this was her strategy: “My goal was simply to win the heat to secure a place in the final and do it using as little energy as possible.” Summer clocked 8:19.88 in her qualifying; Ledecky, 8:14.62, more than five seconds better.
Ledecky dominates from start to finish
The American is the queen of the 800 meters freestyle, the swimmer who had won this event in the six World Championships she had competed in since 2013. But Fred Vergnoux, former coach of Mireia Belmonte and now McIntosh’s coach, had said that his pupil could go under eight minutes, without a doubt. It seemed a distant goal at the beginning of 2024, when her personal best was 8:11.39; however, the Canadian, in just one year, has improved it by six seconds (8:05.07). In addition, McIntosh was the only swimmer who had beaten Ledecky in an 800m freestyle final (at least since 2010): it was in Orlando, in 2024.
Side by side, with the Canadian in lane three and the American in lane four, the two great protagonists went out very evenly. McIntosh held on a little longer in the dive, and Ledecky soon pulled half a body length ahead. 16 hundredths separated them after the first 100 meters, when everything was still to be decided. The one who was almost nailing McIntosh’s time was Australia’s Lani Pallister, escorting Ledecky on her other flank
McIntosh breathed to her left, looking Ledecky in the face on the way out, while the American shunned her, instead approaching the Australian. The queen of the 800m freestyle swam at world record pace, her own world record. But she was not the only one, as both McIntosh and Pallister crossed the halfway point in 4:01
On Phelps’ record path
The next 200 meters were a battle of strength between the three protagonists, with Ledecky just a head in front, but without getting more than two tenths ahead of McIntosh. The Canadian reached the first provisional place just before the last 100, but the queen of the 800 reacted very quickly to regain her place on the throne. McIntosh paid for the effort and began to fall behind, which Katie Ledecky took advantage of to win her seventh world title in the distance… and Pallister, to sneak in between and take the silver medal, relegating the Canadian to bronze
Despite everything, the succession in the 800m freestyle will have to wait. Ledecky won her 30th world championship medal, her 23rd gold, and remains unbeaten in what is her pet event, in which she has never lost (although it is true that she did not participate in the Doha World Championships due to the proximity in the calendar with the Paris Olympics). Her next goal is to catch up with compatriot Michael Phelps, who finished his career with 33 world medals. McIntosh will not be able to equal another record of the American swimmer, as she will not be able to finish the Singapore World Championships with five individual golds (she has those in 400m freestyle, 200m medley and 200m butterfly and only has the 400m medley left to compete)
This news was originally published on this post .
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