The most anticipated event of the World Aquatics Championships happens this weekend
Summer McIntosh faces Ledecky, Titmus in women's 400m freestyle
This is an excerpt from The Buzzer, which is CBC Sports' daily email newsletter. Stay up to speed on what's happening in sports by subscribing here.
Today in Fukuoka, Japan, Canada won its second medal of the World Aquatics Championships as veteran diver Pamela Ware took bronze in the women's 3-metre springboard event. That followed Wednesday's bronze by Caeli McKay in the women's 10m platform.
Ware's medal was the fourth of her career at the world championships and the first in eight years. The 30-year-old from Longueuil, Que., hadn't reached the podium in a solo event at the worlds since 2013.
Today's bronze also completed Ware's comeback from a disastrous performance at the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo, where she missed the 3m final after aborting a dive and jumping into the water feet first. She stepped away from competition, including last year's worlds, before returning in May at a World Cup stop in Montreal.
Following today's bronze win, Ware told CBC Sports' Devin Heroux that she thought about quitting the sport after her Olympic failure. "I was traumatized by it for about a year," she said.
Diving competition concludes Saturday with two finals. Ware and Bryden Hattie will compete in the mixed 3m synchronized event at 2:30 a.m. ET. Canada's Nathan Zsombor-Murray is in the men's 10m platform at 5:30 a.m. ET. Both events will be streamed live on CBCSports.ca, the CBC Sports app and CBC Gem.
After that, the world championships' marquee sport enters the spotlight as swimming takes over the pool. Competition begins Saturday night in Canadian time zones and the first medal races go Sunday morning.
The opening finals session includes the most anticipated race of the entire meet: the women's 400m freestyle. It's a three-way showdown between the reigning Olympic champion, one of the greatest swimmers of all time, and the 16-year-old phenom who holds the world record.
The latter, of course, is Canada's Summer McIntosh. In her Olympic debut two years ago in Tokyo, McIntosh placed fourth in the 400m freestyle as a 14-year-old. The gold and silver medallists were Australia's Ariarne Titmus and the United States' Katie Ledecky — the women she'll battle for the world title on Sunday.
WATCH | Canada's McIntosh returns to Japan as a favourite:
Since the Olympics, McIntosh has continued her meteoric rise. At last year's world championships in Hungary, she won the 400m individual medley and 200m butterfly titles to become the first Canadian swimmer ever to capture multiple gold medals at the same world championships. She also grabbed a silver in the 400m freestyle, which Ledecky won for the fourth time at worlds after Titmus declined to defend her title.
Then came McIntosh's breathtaking performance at the Canadian trials this past spring in her hometown of Toronto. She set two women's world records there, including a 3:56.08 in the 400m freestyle that erased Titmus' 3:56.40 from last year's Australian trials and easily eclipsed Ledecky's winning time of 3:58.15 from last year's worlds.
The world record could fall again on Sunday as these three women are sure to push each other to their limits in their first meeting at a major championship since the Tokyo Olympics. But who comes out on top is anyone's guess.
Ledecky, 26, has the eye-popping resumé: including her four titles in the 400m freestyle, the American has won an incredible 14 individual gold medals at the world championships and another six at the Olympics. Titmus, 22, took the 400m freestyle world title from Ledecky in 2019 before winning double gold (in the 200 and 400 free) at the Tokyo Olympics. McIntosh, a decade younger than Ledecky and six years younger than Titmus, already owns one more world title than the Australian and is a good bet to capture her first Olympic gold medal(s) next summer in Paris. Oh, and she's the fastest women's 400m freestyler of all time. At 16.
Read more about McIntosh, the 400m showdown and other Canadian swimmers to watch at the world championships in this preview. Watch all of Sunday's swimming finals live starting at 7 a.m. ET on CBC Sports' digital platforms. The women's 400m freestyle goes at 7:32 a.m. ET.
Other swimming finals to watch on Sunday and Monday morning:
Assuming it qualifies for the final, Canada could challenge for a medal in the women's 4x100m freestyle relay Sunday at 8:32 a.m. ET. Canada won silver in this event at last year's worlds. But that team's anchor, Penny Oleksiak, is not competing in Japan as she continues her recovery from knee surgery.
The men's 4x100m freestyle final goes Sunday at 8:43 a.m. ET. Canada placed sixth at last year's worlds.
On Monday, Canada's Maggie Mac Neil will try to recapture the world championship in the women's 100m butterfly at 7:09 a.m. ET. The gold medallist at both the 2019 worlds and the 2021 Olympics opted to not defend her world title last year in Budapest, where she swam only in relays to give herself a mental and physical break.
Canadian rising star Josh Liendo will try to reach the men's 50m butterfly final Monday at 7:46 a.m. ET. Liendo, 20, took bronze in both the 100m butterfly and 100m freestyle at last year's worlds.
Also at the World Aquatics Championships this weekend:
The Canadian women's water polo team will play for a spot in the quarterfinals when it faces South Africa in a playoff game on Saturday at 5:30 a.m. ET. Canada went 2-1 in group play while their opponents were 1-2.
The Canadian men's water polo team finished 1-2 in group play after today's 15-11 loss to France. Canada will face the United States (2-1) in the round of 16 on Sunday at 1 a.m. ET.
Both Canadian playoff games will be streamed live on CBC Sports' digital platforms.
