McIntosh dethrones Ledecky in 800m freestyle, snapping American legend's 13-year win streak

Canadian swimming sensation Summer McIntosh has sent yet another shockwave across the swimming world by defeating American legend Katie Ledecky in the 800 metre freestyle.

McIntosh touched the wall in a national record time of 8:11.39, beating Ledecky's time of 8:17.12 – a nearly six second gap. Ledecky had not lost an 800m for more than 13 years.

That makes McIntosh the second-fastest performer ever in the 800m. Her time would have won gold at the Tokyo Olympics.

Prior to Thursday night's race, Ledecky owned the top-30 fastest times ever and she is the three-time defending Olympic champion in the distance. McIntosh's time is now the 17th fastest ever – Ledecky still owns the top-16 times.

McIntosh now holds six Canadian records after surpassing Brittany MacLean's 800m time of 8:20.02 posted a decade ago.

The 17-year-old from Toronto was in control from start to finish, Thursday in Orlando at Southern Zone South Sectional Championships. Both McIntosh and Ledecky were essentially tied after 200m but that's when the Canadian started to make her move.

By the midway point of the race McIntosh had a half-body lead on Ledecky and started to pull away.

The generational talent kept surging with each stroke to build an insurmountable lead the rest of the way.

McIntosh is also entered to compete in the 100m backstroke, 50m and 100m freestyle events as well as the 200m breaststroke.

Ledecky and McIntosh are both sitting out the world aquatics championships set to begin in Doha, Qatar on Sunday.

And they aren't the only swimming superstars sitting out these world championships – on the Canadian side, big names like Josh Liendo, Kylie Masse, Maggie Mac Neil and Ilya Kharun are also opting out of the international meet.

This is the third world championship in the past year and a half, mostly because the pandemic threw the timing of worlds into disarray. It meant a worlds in Budapest in the summer of 2022, another worlds last summer in Fukuoka, Japan and now this third world championship in short order being held in Doha.

WATCH | CBC Sports' Devin Heroux, Brittany MacLean preview World Aquatics:

The past two world championships have been highly successful for Canada, with 11 medals won in 2022 and six more medals won at worlds in Japan last summer.