Summer McIntosh, Kate Douglass, Gretchen Walsh open short course swimming worlds with world records

Canadian Summer McIntosh and Americans Kate Douglass and Gretchen Walsh each broke a world record on the first day of the world short course swimming championships in Budapest.

McIntosh, 18, broke the world record in the first final of the six-day meet in the 400m freestyle. She clocked 3 minutes, 50.25 seconds, crushing the record of 3:51.30 set by Li Bingjie of China in 2022.

“I’m really excited to keep racing, but to start it off with a world record is always nice,” said McIntosh, who is also entered in the 200m backstroke, 200m butterfly and 400m individual medley later this week. “This is my first big meet after the Olympics. So going into this, I’m super excited to try to set the tone for the next quad.”

McIntosh, who won Paris Olympic gold in the 200m and 400m IMs and the 200m fly, could be named the Northern Star Award winner as the Canadian Athlete of the Year across all sports later Tuesday.

Douglass, the Olympic 200m breaststroke gold medalist, broke the world record in the 200m individual medley. She won the world title in 2:01.63, taking 23 hundredths off Hungarian Katinka Hosszu’s world record from 2014.

SHORT COURSE WORLDS: Full Results | Broadcast Schedule

Douglass previously broke the short course world record in the 200m breaststroke during the World Cup series earlier this fall. World Cups and short course worlds are held in 25-meter pools rather than the 50-meter pools used at the Olympics and other major international meets.

“That (World Cup series) definitely helped my confidence a lot, being able to race a bunch of short course meters is something I’ve never done before,” said Douglass, a former NCAA star at Virginia in 25-yard pools. “So, three weeks of it I think really helped get me ready to come to this meet.”

Walsh twice lowered the world record in the 50m butterfly. She went 24.02 in the morning heats, then swam 23.94 in the evening semifinals. Swede Therese Alshammar had the previous world record of 24.38 from 2009.

“Half a second in a 50 off an old world record is absolutely mind-blowing,” Walsh said.

Walsh previously broke the world record in the 100m butterfly in a 50-meter pool at the Olympic Trials in June. She took silver in the event in Paris behind countrywoman Torri Huske. The 50m fly is not on the Olympic program.

American Shaine Casas won the men’s 200m IM in 1:49.51, four months after placing ninth in the 200m IM in his Olympic debut. Casas supplanted Ryan Lochte as the second-fastest performer in history behind Olympic gold medalist Léon Marchand of France, who on Nov. 1 set the world record of 1:48.88.

“I haven’t really swum to the level I wanted to the past couple years,” Casas said. “You live and you learn. I’m working my way back up.”

Swiss Noe Ponti lowered his own world record in the men’s 50m fly semifinals, taking it down from 21.50 to 21.43.

Short course worlds continue with more finals Wednesday at 11:30 a.m. ET, live on Peacock.

undefinedundefinedundefined