McIntosh cruises to national record in women's 800m freestyle at Canadian swimming trials

Summer McIntosh continued to display dominance at national swimming trials in Victoria on Sunday.

In front of a loud, inspiring audience at the Saanich Commonwealth Place pool, McIntosh set a Canadian record in the 800-metre final, finishing in a time of 8:05.07.

The 18-year-old from Toronto fell just short of American Katie Ledecky's 8:04.12 world record.

Shaving nearly five seconds off her previous personal best, McIntosh's time stands as the third-fastest women's 800m performance in history.

WATCH | McIntosh sets national record in 800m freestyle at Canadian trials:

"I'm always shooting to break records and push the boundaries of the sports, but overall I have to be happy with the best time. Those don't come by very often once you get to the top level of the sport," McIntosh told CBC Sports' Devin Heroux after the race.

Still relatively new to the 800m, McIntosh referred to the race as "a good learning experience" while she continues firming her grasp on the event.

"I'm still learning how to swim [the 800m] ... I knew I was probably close to the world record but I had no idea where I was. It's kind of hard for me to find the pace in the middle, I would say 400m, for me.

"I'll have to go over splits with my coach, Fred [Vergnoux]" she said.

Montreal's Ilya Kharun swam to victory in the men's 100m butterfly after touching the wall in a personal best time of 50.37 seconds, narrowly edging Toronto native Josh Liendo (50.46).

"I'm very happy about it. There [are] definitely some tweaks I can improve on, like the first 50 [metres] and things like that. Overall, I think it was a pretty good race and racing against Josh, it's really great," he said.

WATCH | Kharun dashes to 100m butterfly win at national swimming trials:

Acknowledging Liendo's national record mark of 49.99 in the event, set during a silver medal-winning performance at the 2024 Olympics in Paris, Kharun said he looks forward to the two continuing to push each other going forward.

"[Josh] has that 49, and I know for a fact he's probably not rested for this meet, so I'm excited to race him again [at world championships] in Singapore," Kharun said.