Defending champ Summer McIntosh cruises into 400m individual medley final at aquatics worlds
CBC
Canadian swimming phenom Summer McIntosh will go for another gold medal at the World Aquatics Championships after cruising into the women's 400-metre individual medley final on Sunday morning in Fukuoka, Japan.
The 16-year-old from Toronto finished second in the fourth and final heat with a time of four minutes 36.57 seconds, the second-fastest out of the eight qualifiers. Australia's Jenna Forrester posted the top time after passing McIntosh down the stretch in their heat, clocking 4:35.88.
McIntosh is aiming to repeat her historic double from last year's worlds in Budapest, where she won the women's 200m butterfly and 400m individual medley to become the first Canadian swimmer to capture multiple gold medals at the same world championships.
She successfully defended her world title in the 200m butterfly on Thursday and will try to do the same in the 400 medley on Sunday at 8:01 a.m. ET. McIntosh is the world-record holder in the event (4:25.87).
Fellow Canadian Ella Jansen failed to advance to the final after finishing ninth in the same heat, missing the cut with the 17th-fastest overall time (4:43.35).
McIntosh has rebounded superbly from her disappointing fourth-place finish in last weekend's 400m freestyle final, taking bronze in the 200m freestyle on Wednesday before her gold in the 200 fly. With that victory, she joined teammate Kylie Masse as the only Canadian swimmers in history with three world titles.
WATCH | CBC Sports' Devin Heroux profiles Summer McIntosh:
The women's 400 medley heats were followed by the men's and women's 4x100 medley relay heats, which saw both Canadian teams advance.
Canada swam the fastest heat in the women's relay, with Ingrid Wilm, Sophie Angus, Maggie Mac Neil and Mary-Sophie Harvey qualifying with a time of 3:55.93. The eight-team final is scheduled for Sunday at 8:37 a.m. ET, capping the final night of competition at the Marine Messe Fukuoka.
The Canadian men also qualified, as Javier Acevedo, James Dergousoff, Josh Liendo and Ruslan Gaziev finished tied for fifth in their heat and fifth overall (3:32.11). The men's final gets underway on Sunday at 8:19 a.m. ET.
WATCH | Replay of Day 8 swimming prelims:
Canada's Mark Arendz collected his 14th career Paralympic medal while teammate Brittany Hudak earned her fourth in Wednesday's standing cross-country skiing races at Milano Cortina.
Alphonso Davies covered his face with his shirt as he left the field with an injury in Bayern Munich's game against Atalanta in the Champions League on Tuesday in Bergamo, Italy, raising questions about the Canadian star's availability for the World Cup.
Canadian Para nordic skiing star Natalie Wilkie has now won a medal of every colour at the Milano-Cortina Paralympics, adding bronze in the women's standing sprint classic on Tuesday in Val di Fiemme.
This is an excerpt from The Buzzer, CBC Sports' daily email newsletter. Get up to speed on what's happening in sports by subscribing here.
Canadian Para alpine skier Kalle Eriksson and guide Sierra Smith continued their impressive Paralympic debut on Monday by racing to bronze in the men's visually impaired super-G for their second medal.
Matt Dunstone won his first Canadian men's curling championship after knocking hard on the Brier's door in recent years.
Natalie Wilkie won Canada's first gold medal of the Milano-Cortina Paralympics, topping the podium in the women's standing biathlon on Sunday.
Most Paralympic athletes live relatively normal lives when they’re not competing.
Para alpine skier Kalle Eriksson and guide Sierra Smith took silver in the men's visually impaired downhill competition for Canada's first medal of the Milano-Cortina Paralympics on Saturday in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy.
The Milano-Cortina Winter Paralympics officially opened Friday amid the tensions of war in the Middle East, and with some countries boycotting the opening ceremony because of the return of the Russian flag to the global sports stage.
Iran will not participate in the Milan Cortina Paralympics because its only athlete set to compete can't safely travel to Italy amid the intensifying Middle East conflict, the International Paralympic Committee said Friday.
This is an excerpt from The Buzzer, CBC Sports' daily email newsletter. Get up to speed on what's happening in sports by subscribing here.
Canadian phenom Summer McIntosh had a chance to redeem herself against United States legend Katie Ledecky but came up short by nearly two seconds on Wednesday night at a Pro Swim Series meet in Westmont, Ill.