Summer McIntosh Wins Gold in 400m Freestyle at World Aquatics Championships

Canada's Summer McIntosh won the gold medal in the women's 400m freestyle event at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore. American Katie Ledecky took the bronze in the same event.

The competition was anticipated as a showdown between 18-year-old McIntosh, a three-time Olympic gold medalist, and 28-year-old nine-time Olympic champion Ledecky. McIntosh led the race from the beginning and finished in three minutes and 56 seconds. Li Bingjie from China secured second place, with Ledecky trailing by 2.23 seconds.

McIntosh has the opportunity to match Michael Phelps as the only swimmer to win five individual titles at a single world championship. She is scheduled to compete in the 400m and 200m individual medley, 200m butterfly, and 800m freestyle events.

In an interview with Canadian broadcaster CBC, McIntosh expressed her excitement, stating, "It's amazing, day one is probably my biggest day in the meet. That 400m freestyle, I was so in control that entire race and super strong. Overall I felt I had the endurance. I'm just trying to take it one race at a time and day by day."

Ben Proud set a new British record with a time of 22.74 seconds in the men's 50m butterfly semi-final, finishing second behind Switzerland's Noe Ponti to qualify for the final.

Jordan Houlden from Britain placed fourth in the men's 1m springboard diving event, while Noah Penman finished 17th out of 59 divers in the preliminary round in his first appearance at the senior world championships.