Pan Pacific Championships, Night Two Finals: Summer McIntosh Extends Long Winning Streak in 400 IM With 10th-Best Time Ever
Following a narrow loss to Lani Pallister in the 200 freestyle, Summer McIntosh set her sights on a gold medal in one of her signature events. And as expected, no one came close to the Canadian in an event she has dominated for a half-decade.
After cruising to a third-place finish in prelims, McIntosh raced in lane three between American veteran Alex Walsh and Argentinian world junior champion Agostina Hein. McIntosh dipped slightly under her own world-record pace after the butterfly leg, although that quickly fell out of reach on backstroke. Australia’s Jenna Forrester established an advantage on rest of the field during that second leg but never enough to pose a serious challenge to McIntosh. From the midway point, McIntosh continued to pull away to eventually win by 3.5 seconds.
McIntosh put up a time of 4:28.01, the 10th-fastest mark in history. Of the nine faster performances, eight belong to McIntosh while the other was Katinka Hosszu’s 4:26.36 at the 2016 Olympics. While she ended up more than four seconds behind her own world record, McIntosh remained unbeaten internationally in the event, having previously won Olympic gold in Paris, three long course world titles and one in short course.
Forrester secured silver, adding to her strong record of success in the event in previous years. The 23-year-old previously won World Championships bronze in 2023 and tied for silver last year, and she cruised to gold in the event at the recent Commonwealth Games. Forrester’s final time was 4:31.50, just off her 4:31.19 from two weeks ago in Glasgow that ranks third in the world for 2026 behind McIntosh and China’s Yu Zidi.
Bronze went to Hein, who split 29.84 on the final length to surpass China’s Yi Yiting. Hein clocked 4:32.54 to move to fourth in the world, with Yu finishing in 4:33.09 and American Alex Walsh fifth in 4:33.73. Katie Grimes, the U.S. swimmer who won Olympic silver in the event in Paris, faded to sixth (4:35.67).
