Summer McIntosh reveals real reason behind emotional reaction after shattering Ariarne Titmus' world record

Canadian swimmer Summer McIntosh revealed the reason behind her emotional celebration after breaking the Women's 400m freestyle world record during the Canadian Swimming trials. The world record was previously held by Australia's Ariarne Titmus in 3:55.38.

McIntosh bettered the record during her race at the trials and registered a new world record time of 3:54.18 to win the race and emotionally splashed the water to express his happiness. Speaking in an interview after her race, McIntosh shared that she never expected to clock such a time in this event, and this was the main reason for her animated celebration.

The four-time Olympic medalist further shed light on the immense hard work and preparations she has put in to produce these performances. She said via World Aquatics:

"Touching the wall, you can kind of see my outburst of emotions because I was really not expecting that time. After two years of really pushing my hardest every day and training in this event and not seeing the results… all that energy and anger and blood, sweat, and tears built up, and then finally having an amazing swim in it is just really, really satisfying."

Summer McIntosh and Ariarne Titmus had a close competition in the 400m freestyle event during the 2024 Olympics. The Australian took the victory as she successfully defended her 400m free title.

Notably, McIntosh also had a world record-breaking performance during the 200m medley event of the Canadian trials. She clocked a time of 2:05.70 to better the previous record of Katinka Hosszu (2:06.12).

Summer McIntosh expresses emotions after impressive 200m Individual Medley race

Summer McIntosh (Image via: Getty)

Summer McIntosh shed light on her feelings after clocking a world record time during the 200m IM event of the trials. Notably, she is also the reigning Olympic champion of this event.

McIntosh revealed that this record had been at the back of her mind for a long time now, and she was happy to finally achieve this feat. She said, via CNN:

"It’s been one of those records that’s always been in the back of my mind since trials two years ago. I’ve been knocking on the door on this one. I’ve just tried to chip away, chip away at it. To finally do it, it’s kind of like: ‘Wow, I’ve finally got that done."

McIntosh came to the trials after an impressive outing at the TYR Pro Swim Series. She won several laurels, including three gold medals at the Westmont leg of the competition. The 18-year-old also won a couple of silver medals during the Fort Lauderdale leg.