Gold medallist Canada's Summer McIntosh receives a hug as silver medallist USA's Hali Flickinger, right, holds flowers following the women's 200m butterfly finals during the Budapest 2022 World Aquatics Championships at Duna Arena in Budapest on June 22.FERENC ISZA/AFP/Getty Images
The kids are all right.
Canadian teenager Summer McIntosh won the women’s 200-meter butterfly for her first title at the world swimming championships on Wednesday before 17-year-old Romanian David Popovici claimed his second.
They still have some way to go to match Katie Ledecky, who claimed her 18th gold at a worlds by helping the United States win the women’s 4x200-meter freestyle relay. The 25-year-old Ledecky now has 21 medals, extending her record for the most among female swimmers in the competition.
Popovici won the men`s 100 freestyle to add to the 200 freestyle he won on Monday. He is just the second man to achieve the double at a worlds, after American swimmer Jim Montgomery in 1973, and he’s the first Romanian swimmer to win two golds at a worlds.
“The airport is going to be chaotic but I am ready for it,” Popovici said of his return to Bucharest. “For Romania it means a lot and I love the feelings, even though I cannot explain it really well, I am very happy.”
The 15-year-old McIntosh clocked 2 minutes, 05.20 seconds in the 200 butterfly to beat three Olympic medallists to the title.
“It’s one of my biggest dreams in the swimming world to become world champion, and especially to do it in 200 fly is something I have always wanted to do because this is one of my favourite events,” said McIntosh, who finished 0.88 seconds ahead of American Hali Flickinger.
China’s Zhang Yufei was third and American Regan Smith was 1.59 seconds behind in fourth.
Popovici had to fight hard to edge France’s Maxime Grousset by 0.06 seconds in the final with a time of 47.58 seconds. Canada’s Joshua Liendo Edwards, who was leading at the halfway stage, took the bronze.
Two-time defending champion Caeleb Dressel didn’t race after withdrawing from the rest of the competition with an unspecified medical condition earlier Wednesday.
The Americans had to wait until the women’s 4x200-meter freestyle relay for their 11th gold of the championships as Claire Weinstein, Leah Smith, Ledecky and Bella Sims. Australia was second and Canada third.
“I am so proud,” Ledecky said. “I think I realized when we were on the medal podium it had been a while since we had all been up there singing the national anthem together; trying to hit those high-pitched notes together. So that was a lot of fun.”
Only the U.S. (11 gold, six silver, nine bronze) and Australia (two gold, five silver, one bronze) have won at least one medal on each of the five nights of the swimming competition.
Kylie Masse claimed Canada’s second gold of the night by winning the women’s 50-meter backstroke ahead of American Katharine Berkoff and Analia Pigree of France.
Masse became the first swimmer from Canada, male or female, to win three golds at a worlds.
Leon Marchand won the men’s 200-meter individual medley in 1 minute, 55.22 seconds. The 20-year-old Marchand finished ahead of American Carson Foster and Japan’s Daiya Seto.
It was Marchand’s second gold at these worlds after the men’s 400 medley on Saturday, when he almost broke Michael Phelps’ world record, and his third medal after silver in the 200 butterfly on Tuesday.
“I was a little tired this morning,” Marchand said.