Canada's McIntosh speeds into 200M freestyle semifinals at worlds

Summer McIntosh is back on track. The Toronto swimmer won her 200-metre freestyle heat with ease at the swimming world championships on Tuesday in Fukuoka, Japan.

16-year-old bounces back with strong swim after missing podium in 400 freestyle

CBC Sports · Posted: Jul 24, 2023 10:24 PM EDT | Last Updated: July 25, 2023

A swimmer swims. — Canada's Summer McIntosh, seen above earlier at worlds, won her heat to advance to the semifinals in the women's 200-metre freestyle at the swimming world championships on Tuesday in Fukuoka, Japan. (Sarah Stier/Getty Images)

Summer McIntosh is back on track.

The Toronto swimmer won her 200-metre freestyle heat with ease at the swimming world championships on Tuesday in Fukuoka, Japan.

Canada's Maggie Mac Neil captures world silver in women's 100m butterfly

After placing fourth in the 400 freestyle and losing her world record in the process, McIntosh rebounded with a time of one minute 55.88 seconds to move into the semifinals of the shorter distance, which begin Tuesday at 8:13 a.m. ET.

McIntosh, the 16-year-old who owns the world junior record in the 200 freestyle, swam the X-fastest time in heats, only behind Australia's Mollie O'Callaghan (1:55.68).

Ariarne Titmus, the Australian who broke McIntosh's world record en route to 400 gold, was the third-fastest qualifier at 1:56.20.

WATCH | Titmus breaks record as McIntosh held to 4th:

Ariarne Titmus sets world record, Canada's McIntosh swims to 4th in 400m freestyle

1 year ago

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The Australian grabs gold on her way to a world record while the Canadian just missed out on the podium at the worlds in Japan.

Fellow Canadian Mary-Sophie Harvey narrowly missed the cut at 1:58.50, placing 19th overall.

In the men's 200 butterfly, Canada's Ilya Kharun advanced to the semifinals with a time of 1:55.93, including a blazing first 50 metres at 25.10 seconds.

Kharun, 18, was born in Montreal but only spent a few months there before his parents, Cirque Du Soleil performers, moved to Las Vegas. These worlds represent the first major meet at which he's represented Canada internationally.

Kharun, whose time was 13th-best in heats, will swim for a spot in the eight-man final on Tuesday at 8:33 a.m. ET.

Canada's Kylie Masse, Ingrid Wilm advance to 100m backstroke semifinals at aquatics worlds

Meanwhile, James Dergousoff of Christina Lake, B.C., posted a personal-best time of 27.53 seconds in the men's 50 breaststroke but failed to advance to the semifinals. Eric Georges Brown, of Pointe-Claire, Que., missed out on the men's 800 freestyle semis with his time of 8:01.41.

Also, Canada's men's water polo team fell 13-5 against Croatia in a classification match. It now moves on to the 11th-place game on Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET.

Tune back in to CBCSports.ca, the CBC Sports app and CBC Gem on Tuesday at 6:45 a.m. ET when hosts Anastasia Bucsis and Brittany MacLean bring you all the action from the next session of swimming.

Canadians Kylie Masse and Ingrid Wilm will race in the 100 backstroke final at 7:51 a.m. ET.

Canada won its first swimming medal of the event on Monday in Japan when Maggie Mac Neil of London, Ont., scored silver in the women's 100 butterfly.

WATCH | Mac Neil swims to silver medal: