Canada’s Summer McIntosh continued her push to become the first woman to ever win five gold medals in a single swimming world championships after dominating the 200-meter butterfly Thursday in Singapore.
It was McIntosh’s third gold of the week. Her 2:01.99 was the second-fastest women’s 200 butterfly ever and set a Canadian record.
🇨🇦 Summer McIntosh with the second fastest time ever in the women’s 200m butterfly with a time of 2:01.99 🤯 #AQUASingapore25pic.twitter.com/eKGM2SRZ53
— World Aquatics (@WorldAquatics) July 31, 2025
McIntosh missed out on the world record by 0.18 seconds. After the race, she said one breath proved to be the difference.
Summer McIntosh is fuming.
She just told me she’s never felt that good in a final in her career. And she was so close to the WR.
She told me she took one extra breath in the last metres and that was the difference. She hungry for more. And told me she wants the 800m badly.
— Devin Heroux (@Devin_Heroux) July 31, 2025
McIntosh did break the record for fastest 200m butterfly at the World Championships, so she did make some history. But Zige Liu still holds the world record with a time of 2:01.81.
Regan Smith of the United States finished second in 2:04.99, a full three seconds behind McIntosh.
Leon Marchand continues dominant run
French star Leon Marchand won the men’s 200 individual medley finals but fell short of the world record he set a day earlier. Marchand broke Ryan Lochte’s 2011 world record in Wednesday’s semifinals with a 1:52.69. In the final, Marchand went 1:53.68 — which was also faster than Lochte’s previous WR of 1:54.00 — to beat American Shaine Casas’ 1:54.30.
Men’s 200m IM at #AQUASingapore25
🇫🇷 Leon Marchand 🥇 – 1:53.68
🇺🇸 Shaine Casas 🥈 – 1:54.30
🇭🇺 Hubert Kos 🥉- 1:55.34 pic.twitter.com/OjcmVEUANg— World Aquatics (@WorldAquatics) July 31, 2025
Casas’ time was the third-fastest ever by an American male in the 200 IM, trailing only Lochte and Michael Phelps.
Romania’s David Popovici swam a 46.51 in the men’s 100 freestyle, the second-fastest time ever in history. American Jack Alexy won silver with 46.92. Popovici broke his own European record.
This story will be updated.
