Worlds Done & Dusted
There was no Olympics hangover when the top swimmers dived into the Budapest pool for the 2024 World Aquatics Short Course Championships. World, Championship, Oceania and National records all tumbled with blistering times posted, and plenty of prize money won! Chief amongst the record slayers was Funkita F-Teamer Summer McIntosh. Summer broke 3 World Records and 4 Junior World Records.
In the 400m freestyle, Summer dominated the field, splitting in 1:53.53, and storming to a new World Record (3:50.25). Two days later she broke the 200m butterfly World and Junior World Record swimming 1:59.32. Her time surpassed Mireia Belmonte’s previous mark of 1:59.61 which had stood for a decade. In the 400m individual medley, Summer claimed victory by almost 5-seconds, coming home in 58.43 for her freestyle leg to touch in a time of 4:15.48, again lowering Spaniard Belmonte’s previous mark of 4:18.94 set back in 2017.
Although it shouldn’t be surprising to see Summer take on the world in an unknown event, Summer pushed American superstar Regan Smith to a new World Record (1:58.04) in the 200m backstroke, claiming the silver medal (1:59.96) and setting another Junior World Record. It capped off an incredible year for Summer where she was named World Aquatics Female Swimmer Of The Year.
Australia’s Iona Anderson raced the 50, 100 and 200 backstroke making finals in each and helping Australia secure a new Australian and Oceanic record in the 4 x 100m mixed medley relay. On debut for Australia, both Tiana Kritzinger and Bella Grant made finals and gained a huge amount of experience racing on the world stage. Bella gave us a rundown on her experience in Budapest,
"I was fully tapered after World Cup so my goal was to make a final and soak up the experience since it is my first senior team. Coming away from the meet, I made a final and learned so many new things I will be able to take back into training and competing in the future."
The Irish contingent was led by national superstar Ellen Walshe who broke 8 Irish records throughout the meet in the butterfly and medley events, finishing 5th in both the 200m and 400m individual medley. Ellen was particularly happy with her 400,
"It was the end of the meet and I was feeling a little tired having swum a lot of events but I was delighted to come out 5th."
Overall Ellen had an amazing time in Budapest,
"I was very happy to get back out on the world stage and enjoying racing again after the Olympics. It was an awesome venue and very enjoyable to be apart of the Irish team."
Fellow Irish swimmer Ellie McCartney swam 2:23.36 in the 200m breaststroke to finish 17th. Hungarian swimmer Laura Ilyes placed 11th in the 200m butterfly in 2:06.93.
It was great to see South African Lara van Niekerk back in action as part of her team’s African record breaking Women’s 4x100m Medley Relay performance (3:57.68) and swimming the 50m and 100m breastrokes. Lara didn't make a night swim but after a year of injury she was happy to be back racing on the world stage again,
"I'm getting there! My injury did put me back quite a bit so I knew Worlds would not be great so I am just celebrating the small victories. My main goal for this competition was to have fun and not be hard on myself with all the hiccups I've had. I think if the improvement keeps going like it did the last 2 months I will be back on track for LA."
Congratulations to all our F-Teamers who raced at Worlds! It’s now back home for a well deserved break before starting it all again in 2025.
