Teen swimming sensation Summer McIntosh breaks another world record on road to Paris

17-year-old Canadian Summer McIntosh has broken her own world record as she prepares for gold a gold medal assault in Paris.

Canadian Summer McIntosh has sounded a warning ahead of Paris by breaking another world record. Picture: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images

International swimming’s next budding superstar Summer McIntosh has broken another world record in an ominous display ahead of the Paris Olympics.

The Olympics are still 10 weeks away from kicking off but the Canadian teenager is already miles ahead of the pack, sending a clear warning to her rivals about what she has in store.

On Friday, the 17-year-old demolished the world record for the women’s 400 metres individual medley at the Canadian trials, stopping the clock at 4:24.38, almost a second and a half under the previous world standard she set a year ago.

“I was really just focusing on having fun with the race and kind of taking it 100 metres at a time because it’s a pretty mentally challenging race,” McIntosh said.

“I wasn’t really focused on the time. I mean, obviously, I’m very grateful that I was able to break my world record. Overall I’m really happy.”

Summer McIntosh demolished her own world record for the 400 metres individual medley

No other women has set a world record in swimming in 2024. The only man to do was Chinese freestyle sprinter Pan Zhanle.

Of all the women’s races in Paris, none looks as one-sided as the 400m medley because McIntosh – already a double world champion in the gruelling multi-stroke event – has such a huge margin over her competitors.

Only five other women have ever broken 4:30 but none are racing the event in Paris so she looks to have the gold medal at her mercy.

The biggest challenge facing McIntosh is how many medals she can pocket because she is so versatile so has to pick and choose which ones to contest, though she has some formidable opponents.

She has already qualified for the 400m freestyle, leapfrogging Australia’s defending champion Ariarne Titmus at the top of this year’s world rankings, and the 200m, where she’s ranked No. 2 in the world in 2024 behind Mollie O’Callaghan.

Summer McIntosh is on track for a big medal haul at the Paris Olympics. Picture: Tom Pennington/Getty Images

McIntosh still has two more events to come, the 200m butterfly and 200m medley and has a real shot at getting medals in every race.

She is already two-time world champion in butterfly and is the fastest current swimmer in medley, but faces a huge battle with Australia’s best all-round swimmer Kaylee McKeown.

Originally published as Teen swimming sensation Summer McIntosh breaks another world record on road to Paris