Canada's Summer McIntosh continued her push to become the first woman to ever win five gold medals in a single swimming world championships after dominating the 200-meter butterfly Thursday in Singapore. It was McIntosh's third gold of the week. Her 2:01.99 was the second-fastest women's 200 butterfly ever and set a Canadian record. 🇨🇦 Summer McIntosh with the second fastest time ever in the women's 200m butterfly with a time of 2:01.99 🤯#AQUASingapore25pic.twitter.com/eKGM2SRZ53 — World Aquatics (@WorldAquatics)July 31, 2025 McIntosh missed out on the world record by 0.18 seconds. After the race, she actuallyexpressed some frustrationthat she didn't break the world record. She later added that one breath proved to be the difference. Summer McIntosh is fuming.She just told me she's never felt that good in a final in her career. And she was so close to the WR.She told me she took one extra breath in the last metres and that was the difference. She hungry for more. And told me she wants the 800m badly. — Devin Heroux (@Devin_Heroux)July 31, 2025 McIntosh did break the record for fastest 200m butterfly at the World Championships, so she did make some history. But Zige Liu still holds the world record with a time of 2:01.81. Regan Smith of the United States finished second in 2:04.99, a full three seconds behind McIntosh. French star Leon Marchand won the men's 200 individual medley finals but fell short of the world record he set a day earlier. Marchand broke Ryan Lochte's 2011 world record in Wednesday's semifinals with a 1:52.69. In the final, Marchand went 1:53.68 — which was also faster than Lochte's previous WR of 1:54.00 — to beat American Shaine Casas' 1:54.30. Men's 200m IM at#AQUASingapore25🇫🇷 Leon Marchand 🥇 - 1:53.68🇺🇸 Shaine Casas 🥈 - 1:54.30🇭🇺 Hubert Kos 🥉- 1:55.34pic.twitter.com/OjcmVEUANg — World Aquatics (@WorldAquatics)July 31, 2025 Casas' time was the third-fastest ever by an American male in the 200 IM, trailing only Lochte and Michael Phelps. Katharine Berkoff has won medals at the World Championships before, but never managed a gold in an individual event. That changed Thursday, as Berkoff picked up the win in the women's 50m backstroke. It was an impressive performance for Berkoff, who posted a time of 27.08 to win the gold. Katharine Berkoff wins the Women's 50m Backstroke! 🇺🇸That is her first indivdiual World Title! 🥇#AQUASingapore25#Swimmingpic.twitter.com/N4invsAgt5 — World Aquatics (@WorldAquatics)July 31, 2025 American Regan Smith finished second in the event, posting a time of 27.25. The Americans set a new record during the women's 4x200 freestyle relay Thursday, but it wasn't enough to win a gold medal. Instead, the team picked up a silver, posted an American-record time of 7:40.01 in the event. Team USA lost out to Australia, which posted a time of 7:39.35. China finished third in the event. Claire Weinstein, Anna Peplowski, Erin Gemmell and Katie Ledecky were responsible for the team's record-setting performance. Romania's David Popovici picked up a win over Jack Alexy in the men's 100m freestyle. Popovici broke his own European record in the win, swimming a 46.51 to take gold. It was the second-fastest swim in men's 100m freestyle. Alexy, who set an American record during prelims Wednesday, finished second with a 46.92, just slightly slower than his record from Wednesday's action. 46.51 FOR DAVID POPOVICI IN THE 100 FREESTYLE!!!SECOND FASTEST SWIM IN HISTORY!!!WE'RE ALREADY TAKING SHOTS AT 46.40!!!pic.twitter.com/qieNQ41KKr — Kyle Sockwell (@kylesockwell)July 31, 2025 Things seemed to be improving after multiple Team USA swimmers pulled out of events early at the World Championships due toacute gastroenteritis. After a few days without issues — and a few gold-medal wins — a number of U.S. athletes pulled out of events Thursday. Gretchen Walsh pulled out of the 100m freestyle and Josh Matheny pulled out of the 200m breaststroke. A few hours later, USA Swimming announced Carson Foster would not swim in the 200m individual medley. It's unclear if that trio is dealing with the illness sweeping through the World Championships or if there are other reasons for their absence on Thursday.
