Summer McIntosh erased the last supersuit world record in women’s swimming on Sunday with a dominant victory in the 200m butterfly at the Canadian trials for the Pan Pacific Championships.
The Olympic and world champion touched the wall in two minutes, 1.65 seconds in the final in Montreal, surpassing Liu Zige’s long-standing record of 2:01.81 at the Chinese National Games in October 2009.
Liu’s mark was set months before polyurethane suits were banned from international competition and was considered one of the most difficult records to break.
But McIntosh has been going far.
The 19-year-old became the second woman to break 2:02.00 at last year’s world championships and now owns five of the six fastest times in the event.
“As you can see my feelings, this means the absolute world,” he said poolside. “Growing up, this is one world record that I thought I would never break and to do it tonight is very special in front of the home crowd.
