Summer McIntosh Wins 4 Gold Medals at World Aquatics Championships
Summer McIntosh became only the second female swimmer in history to win 4 gold medals at a single world championship event and just the third swimmer ever to win five individual medals.
In a sport where milliseconds can separate champions from contenders, Summer McIntosh is in a league of her own. At just 18 years old, the Canadian swim phenom delivered one of the most dominant performances swimming has seen in years at the 2025 Canadian Swimming Trials in Victoria, British Columbia.
Summer continued her blazing momentum into the 2025 FINA World Aquatics Championships in Singapore, becoming just the second female swimmer in history to win four gold medals at a single world championship event and just the third swimmer ever to win five individual medals, joining Michael Phelps and Sarah Sjostrom.
The 2025 World Aquatics Championships took place in Singapore from July 11 to August 3, with Summer racing in five individual events.
She opened the Championships with a dominant performance in the 400m freestyle, securing gold with a time of 3:56.26 -- just a second behind the world record she set in the same event at the Canadian Swimming Trials in June.
The very next day, Summer continued her relentless pace with her second gold medal in the 200m individual medley with a time of 2:06.69. On July 31, Summer took to her lane in the 200m butterfly final and got out to a blistering start. She held the lead from the beginning of the race and never let up, securing her third gold medal with a time of 2:01.99, becoming just the second swimmer in history to record a time under 2:02 and narrowly missing out on a world record.
The next race to come was the 800m freestyle, where Summer would go head-to-head with swimming legend Katie Ledecky. The two were side-by-side for the majority of the race, both swimming under world record time after 600m.
However, Ledecky proved to still be the powerhouse, taking home gold and Summer taking home the bronze medal with a time of 8:07.29. It was an excellent showing from McIntosh in a race discipline that isn't necessarily her forte.
To finish off the 2025 FINA World Aquatics Championships, Summer added her fourth gold medal by breaking her own competition record with a time of 4:25.78 in the 400m individual medley.
Here is a full breakdown of Summer's 2025 World Aquatics Championship results:
Date
Event
Result
July 27, 2025
400m Freestyle Final
1st (3:56.26)
July 28, 2025
200m Individual Medley Final
1st (2:06.69)
July 30, 2025
200m Butterfly Heats & Semi-Final
Qualified for Final
July 31 2025
200m Butterfly Final
1st (2:01.99)
August 1, 2025
800m Freestyle Heats
Qualified for Final
August 2, 2025
800m Freestyle Final
3rd (8:07.29)
August 3, 2025
400m Individual Medley Heats & Final
1st (4:25.78)
Check out some photos of Summer at the 2025 FINA World Aquatics Championships in Singapore:
Three world records. Five events. One near-unstoppable force.
On top of the world records set in June, 2025, Summer also set new Canadian records in the 400m freestyle and 200m butterfly – records she previously held herself, with the performance in the 200m butterfly becoming the second-fastest time ever.
Yet, what McIntosh accomplished isn’t just historic. It puts her in the same breath as other swim icons like Michael Phelps and Katie Ledecky. And as she sets her sights on Singapore in July, there’s no question anymore: Summer McIntosh isn’t the future of swimming – she’s the present.
Summer took down Olympic champion Ariarne Titmus’s record by more than a second
200m Individual Medley
2:05.70
Katinka Hosszu’s world record time had stood since being set back in 2015
400m Individual Medley
4:23.65
Having already set the world record in this event, she broke it again
400m Freestyle
3:54.18
This set a new Canadian record, which was previously held by herself
200m Butterfly
2:02.26
Summer shaved .76 off her own Canadian record, setting the second-fastest time in history
While setting three world records in a single competition is almost unheard of, she was dangerously close to setting two more. In the 800m freestyle – an event that’s been absolutely dominated by Ledecky since 2013 – Summer finished third-fastest all time, less than a second behind the world record of 8:04.12.
In the 200m butterfly, she posted the second-fastest swim ever, setting a Canadian record and just missing out on the world record by less than half a second. If anyone had the smallest of doubts before, there are surely none now. Summer McIntosh is on her way to becoming the best swimmer in the world. Full stop.
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