Budapest 2024, Day 1 Prelims: Summer McIntosh & Noè Ponti Get Short-Course Worlds Underway
Summer McIntosh and Noè Ponti are among the swimmers to get day one of the World Short-Course Championships underway in Budapest.
Also competing in the first session are Kate Douglass and Florian Wellbrock while Boglarka Kapas starts the final competition of a career in which she’s won Olympic, world and European medals.
Women’s 400m Freestyle
McIntosh was in the fifth and final prelim alongside Lani Pallister with the pair sharing the centre lanes. It was the Australian who took out the pace, turning 0.41 inside the world record after 100m.
McIntosh, who won silver at Paris 2024, tracked Pallister and pulled alongside at 300m before going ahead to touch in 3:57.55 to book lane four for the final.
Pallister was second through in 3:57.97 followed by Claire Weinstein (3:58.58), Paige Madden (3:58.83), Isabel Gose (3:59.87), Mary-Sophie Harvey (4:00.04), Leah Neale (4:01.99) and Sofia Dakova, a neutral athlete, (4:02.03).
McIntosh won three golds and a silver at Paris 2024 and she spoke to Swimming World about her return to a focus on racing after the whirlwind of the summer.
“It’s awesome,” she said. “To be back here at one of my favourite pools – it’s kind of where it really started off, my getting really up there in the ranks with World Championships and things like that.
“So to be back here is really fun and I always love racing – I love training but I love racing even more so to be back at it and to get to race alongside so many amazing swimmers I’m excited to continue on with the meet.”
