Australian swimming superstar Ariarne Titmus has seen her 400 metre world record smashed by emerging Canadian star Summer McIntosh.
McIntosh obliterated the record by 0.32 seconds on the opening night of the Canadian swimming trials on Tuesday.
The 16-year-old finished in a time of 3:56.08 at the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre to beat Titmus's record time of 3:56.40.
"I'm not a crier but this world record, I didn't think this was possible tonight," McIntosh told CBC Sports.
"It's absolutely incredible. I'm not an emotional person. But I was hit with so much emotion. Pure euphoria right now.
"Over the past few years I've put my life into this. To be the best I can be.
"To achieve something like this, it was very unexpected. It was never in my dreams to do this tonight or even a few years ago. This just blows my mind."
Titmus set her mark at the Australian Championships in Adelaide in May 2022, when she took 0.06 seconds off American legend Katie Ledecky's long-standing record that she set at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.
That, plus Titmus's stunning 400-200m double at the Tokyo Olympics, was the start of a promising trans-Pacific rivalry between the two stars of the pool over the middle distances — but now there is another.
Despite being just 16 years old, McIntosh has already established herself as one of the most eye-catching swimmers on the circuit, with five major international gold medals to her name in just two seasons of senior competition.
McIntosh came fourth in the 400m at the delayed Tokyo Olympic Games as a 14-year-old, finishing almost 6 seconds behind Titmus, who won gold.
In the World Championships the following year — a meet Titmus missed — McIntosh came second in the 400m behind Ledecky, but won gold in the 200m butterfly and 400m medley.
The following month at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, McIntosh won the silver behind Titmus in the same event, finishing little over a second behind her Australian rival.
McIntosh did pick up two individual gold medals at those Commonwealth Games in 200 and 400m medley — plus three relay medals.
Her head coach, Brent Arckey, said the Toronto native was "one of the best racers I've ever seen".
"I'm not really sure what to say right now. I'm trying to hold it all in, but celebrating her. This is a special thing," he told CBC Sports.
Earlier this month, McIntosh ended Ledecky's nine-year home pool winning streak when she touched first in the 200m freestyle at a Pro Series swim meet in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
ABC/Reuters
