Summer McIntosh continued to display dominance at national swimming trials in Victoria on Sunday.
In front of a loud, inspiring audience at the Saanich Commonwealth Place pool, McIntosh set a Canadian record in the 800-metre final, finishing in a time of 8:05.07.
The 18-year-old from Toronto fell just short of American Katie Ledecky’s 8:04.12 world record.
Shaving nearly five seconds off her previous personal best, McIntosh’s time stands as the third-fastest women’s 800m performance in history.
WATCH | McIntosh sets national record in 800m freestyle at Canadian trials:
Summer McIntosh sets national record with 800m freestle victory at Canadian swimming trials
“I’m always shooting to break records and push the boundaries of the sports, but overall I have to be happy with the best time. Those don’t come by very often once you get to the top level of the sport,” McIntosh told CBC Sports’ Devin Heroux after the race.
Still relatively new to the 800m, McIntosh referred to the race as “a good learning experience” while she continues firming her grasp on the event.
“I’m still learning how to swim [the 800m] … I knew I was probably close to the world record but I had no idea where I was. It’s kind of hard for me to find the pace in the middle, I would say 400m, for me.
“I’ll have to go over splits with my coach, Fred [Vergnoux]” she said.
Montreal’s Ilya Kharun swam to victory in the men’s 100m butterfly after touching the wall in a personal best time of 50.37 seconds, narrowly edging Toronto native Josh Liendo (50.46).
“I’m very happy about it. There [are] definitely some tweaks I can improve on, like the first 50 [metres] and things like that. Overall, I think it was a pretty good race and racing against Josh, it’s really great,” he said.
WATCH | Kharun dashes to 100m butterfly win at national swimming trials:
Ilya Kharun edges Josh Liendo in battle for 100m butterfly title at Canadian swimming trials
Acknowledging Liendo’s national record mark of 49.99 in the event, set during a silver medal-winning performance at the 2024 Olympics in Paris, Kharun said he looks forward to the two continuing to push each other going forward.
“[Josh] has that 49, and I know for a fact he’s probably not rested for this meet, so I’m excited to race him again [at world championships] in Singapore,” Kharun said.
Two other national marks were set on Sunday, as a pair of Para swimmers established new Canadian records on Day 2 of trials.
Aly Van Wyck-Smart of Toronto raced to a time of 4:48.05 in the women’s S3 200m freestyle final, overtaking Nikita Ens’s previous low of 4:48.21 set in 2022.
WATCH | Van Wyck-Smart sets national record in women’s S3 200m freestyle:
Aly Van Wyck-Smart establishes national record in S3 200m freestyle at Canadian swimming trials
Earlier in the day during preliminaries, Jordan Tucker of Guelph, Ont., raced to a women’s S4 200m record time of 4:03.87.
Competition runs from June 7-12, with preliminary heats beginning at 12:30 p.m. ET and finals at 8:30 p.m. ET each day.
The national trials will determine who represents Canada at the world championships in Singapore, which will be held from July 27-Aug. 3.
WATCH | CBC Sports’ The Ready Room discusses storylines from national swim trials:
Will Summer McIntosh break a world record? And other storylines ahead of Canadian swim trials
