McIntosh motors to 400m freestyle crown, Australia revel in relay golds

World record holder Summer McIntosh stormed to the women’s 400 metres freestyle world title on Sunday, making a flying start to her bid for five individual crowns at the Singapore meet as American great Katie Ledecky finished with the bronze.
The highly anticipated battle between McIntosh and Ledecky failed to materialize as the Canadian led from start to finish and claimed the win in three minutes and 56.26 seconds, nearly two seconds ahead of Chinese silver medallist Li Bingjie. Ledecky was 2.23 seconds behind McIntosh, who had only a small break before returning to qualify fastest for the 200 individual medley (IM) final in 2:07.39, less than two seconds off her world record. Triple Olympic champion McIntosh is seeking to emulate Michael Phelps, the only swimmer to win five individual titles at a single world championships.
The 18-year-old Canadian may be hurtling towards greatness but a pre-teen Chinese swimmer showed she could be nipping at her heels in a few years.
All of 12-years-old, Yu Zidi qualified seventh for the 200 IM final in 2:10.22, shaving over four-tenths off her personal best in her world championships debut.
Hailing from the northern Chinese province of Hebei, Yu made the swimming world sit up and take notice at national championships in Shenzhen in May by winning the 400 IM and 200 butterfly titles. She also came second in the 200 IM in Shenzhen and is recording faster times than McIntosh did as a 12-year-old.
In the men’s 400 final, Olympic champion Lukas Maertens won an absolute humdinger of a race, nosing ahead of Sam Short on the final lap and holding off the Australian by 0.02 seconds to claim his first world title in a time of 3:42.35.
Five members of Canada’s 2018 world junior ice hockey team have been found not guilty of sexually assaulting a woman in a hotel room that year, in a trial that began in April and garnered national attention.
Short won the event two years ago by the same margin from Tunisia’s Ahmed Hafnaoui, with Maertens claiming bronze.
Australia finished the night celebrating a sweep of the men’s and women’s 4×100 freestyle golds.
Olivia Wunsch was the hero for the Australian women as she mowed down Torri Huske in the final lap to secure the gold in 3:30.66, 0.44 seconds ahead of the United States. Earlier, American Gretchen Walsh, the silver medallist at the Paris Olympics, topped qualifying with Belgian Roos Vanotterdijk for the women’s 100m butterfly final, both recording a time of 56.07.
China’s former world champion Zhang Yufei was also safely through.