FUKUOKA, Japan (Reuters) – Canadian teenager Summer McIntosh cruised to the women’s 200 metres butterfly title at the World Aquatics Championships on Thursday, capturing the gold medal in a time of two minutes, 04.06 seconds ahead of Australian Elizabeth Dekkers.
Regan Smith of the United States took the bronze but the race was all about 16-year-old McIntosh, who was 1.40 seconds ahead of her nearest rival and shattered her own world junior record en route to retaining the title she won in Budapest.
Matthew Richards can later secure his second gold at the meet after stunning 2022 champion David Popovici in the men’s 200m freestyle and the 20-year-old set the pace during the preliminary races for the 100m freestyle.
But he faces a tough challenge from the likes of Australia’s Kyle Chalmers and China’s Pan Zhanle in what could be a closely contested race with 0.59 seconds separating the field.
Romania’s Popovici, who boasts the world record of 46.86 seconds, was fifth following the semi-finals and will be eager to fire after an underwhelming fourth-place finish in his previous final at the Marine Messe Fukuoka Hall.
Australia’s triple Olympic gold medallist Kaylee McKeown will be among the favourites to bag the women’s 50m backstroke crown after claiming the title over 100m this week, but Smith went quickest in the build-up.
The duo were separated by only 0.16 seconds after the semis with Briton Lauren Cox, American Katharine Berkoff and Canada’s defending champion Kylie Masse breathing down their necks.
Frenchman Leon Marchand will gun for this third individual title at the championships after his world record showing in the 400m individual medley and 200 butterfly gold as the 21-year-old takes to the pool to defend his 200m medley crown.
Up for grabs is American Ryan Lochte’s world record of 1:54.00 set at the 2011 worlds in Shanghai but the race promises to be close, with Carson Foster and Daiya Seto – last year’s silver and bronze medallists – also in the fray.
The U.S. women’s team, gold medallists at five of the last six worlds in the 4x200m freestyle relay, will bid to stave off Australia and Britain and retain their title in the final race of the evening.
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru)
