At just 15 years old, Canadian Summer McIntosh asserted herself as a swimming force on Wednesday at the aquatics world championships.
In the first event of the day, the Toronto native won her first career world championship gold medal in the 200-metre butterfly. Later, in the last race on the schedule, she powered Canada to bronze in the women’s 4x200m freestyle relay with an opening leg that would have been fast enough to win individual gold.
McIntosh wasn’t the only Canadian teen to make waves on Wednesday, either.
Josh Liendo, 19, reached his first-ever podium at worlds, swimming to bronze in the men’s 100m freestyle.
And relative team veteran Kylie Masse added a new accolade of her own, capturing the country’s second gold medal of the day in the 50m backstroke.
McIntosh now has the full set of medals at worlds after previously earning silver in the 400m freestyle. She earned her gold with a world-junior record of two minutes 5.20 seconds, breaking the mark she set in semifinals Tuesday.
“I think I’m a little bit in shock right now,” she said after the race.
WATCH | McIntosh bursts to gold medal:
Toronto teen Summer McIntosh wins world championship gold in the 200m butterfly
9 hours ago
Duration 9:10
15-year-old Summer McIntosh broke her own world junior record, set only a day before, to win gold in the women’s 200 metre butterfly event at the 2022 FINA world championships in Budapest.
American Hali Flickinger took silver in 2:06.08, while China’s Zhang Yufei scored bronze in 2:06.32.
McIntosh bided her time en route to victory, keeping close to the leaders through 100 metres while making sure not to empty the gas tank too early.
McIntosh made her move at the halfway point. She took over the lead at the 150-metre mark and only extended it down the homestretch, turning what looked like it could be a tight finish into a no-doubt victory for the Canadian.
“I didn’t expect to go 2:05,” McIntosh said. “But as soon as I stepped out with all the energy and excitement from the crowd, I just fed off that. I got a lot of adrenaline and motivation and put it down.”
That unexpected time was over eight seconds faster than McIntosh’s mother Jill Horstead swam to finish ninth at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.
The gold medal also marked the first podium appearance ever for Canada in the women’s 200m butterfly at worlds.
WATCH | McIntosh leads Canadian relay bronze:
Canada’s Oleksiak, Sanchez, McIntosh and Ruck win world 4x200m freestyle bronze
7 hours ago
Duration 13:01
Canadians Penny Oleksiak, Kayla Sanchez, Summer McIntosh and Taylor Ruck swam to a bronze medal in the women’s 4×200 metre freestyle relay at the 2022 FINA world championships in Budapest.
Not even two hours later, McIntosh led off the relay team, followed by Kayla Sanchez, Taylor Ruck and Penny Oleksiak.
The teen got the Canadians out to a massive lead with a time of 1:54.79 that would have been good enough for gold had she competed in the individual 200m freestyle. It also marked McIntosh’s second world junior title of the day.
The rest of the squad just had to hang on from there, which they barely did. Canada held off fourth-place China by less than a second, finishing in 7:44.76.
“It was fun to be a part of,” said Oleksiak, the team’s anchor who also swam in the women’s 100 freestyle semifinals. “It was a tough double for me but having the girls really helped.”
Katie Ledecky claimed her 18th gold at a worlds by helping the United States win the event with a championship record of 7:41.45, while Australia snagged silver in 7:43.86. The 25-year-old Ledecky now has 21 medals, extending her record for the most among female swimmers in the competition.
WATCH | Behind McIntosh’s generational talent:
A ‘once in a generation’ swimmer, Summer McIntosh just getting started
6 days ago
Duration 2:07
Summer McIntosh was the youngest member of Team Canada last summer at the Tokyo Olympic Games— but she certainly didn’t show her age on the world’s grandest athletic stage.
It’s the seventh career medal at worlds — all earned in relays — for Oleksiak, matching Masse for the national record and equalling her Olympic total.
She’ll have a shot at her first individual podium on Thursday at 12:02 p.m. ET, when she’ll compete in the 100m freestyle final alongside Sanchez. Oleksiak won gold in the event at the 2016 Olympics.
McIntosh had two fourth-place finishes at last year’s Tokyo Olympics and won a gold and two silver medals at the 2021 short-course championships last December in Abu Dhabi.
WATCH | The significance of Lane 4:
Do you know why lane 4 is significant in swimming?
1 day ago
Duration 0:46
Athletes are assigned different lanes in a swim final and where they are placed can give insight into who stacks up against who. Jacqueline Doorey explains.
Liendo brings home bronze
Liendo took an alternate approach from McIntosh, getting off the blocks quickly and reaching the 50-metre mark in first place.
But the Markham, Ont., native, who became the first Black Canadian to win a medal at a major international meet at the short-course championships, couldn’t maintain his blistering pace over the final 50m.
Even still, Liendo stayed strong enough to touch third with a time of 47.71 seconds. Romania’s David Popovici topped the podium in 47.58 seconds, and France’s Maxime Grousset took silver in 47.64 seconds.
WATCH | Liendo takes bronze in 100m freestyle:
Canada’s Josh Liendo swims to a world championship bronze medal in the 100m freestyle
9 hours ago
Duration 5:40
Josh Liendo of Markham, Ont., claimed a bronze medal in the men’s 100 metre freestyle event at the 2022 FINA world championships in Budapest.
American Caeleb Dressel, a seven-time Olympic medallist and a favourite in the event, withdrew from the rest of the competition for unspecified medical reasons ahead of the race.
“He’s just not fit to compete right now. And so we just needed to make that decision. It needed to be a quick decision,” American team manager Lindsay Mintenko told journalists.
Mintenko said she could not be more specific about the reasons for Dressel’s withdrawal, but that he may decide to speak about it himself. She declined to say whether it was a mental or physical problem. Dressel had appeared in good shape.
He had pulled out of Tuesday’s semifinals in the 100m freestyle and it wasn’t clear at the time if he’d be able to continue. He was also due to race the 50m freestyle and 100m butterfly later in the worlds.
Masse golden again
Masse, the two-time reigning 100m backstroke champion who relinquished her title to American Regan Smith earlier at worlds but held on for silver, said that race was out of her mind by the time she got to the pool on Wednesday.
“Totally new race. 50 is fun, I think it’s a dream to come to the pool and only swim one length,” the LaSalle, Ont., native said poolside.
Masse stormed to an early lead in the non-Olympic event, but appeared to fall back to the pack as the race approached its quick end.
Yet the Canadian found one final gear, out-touching American Katharine Berkoff with a time of 27.31 seconds to win gold.
“It goes by really fast. I’m just focusing on nailing the touch because I know it comes down to the small details,” she said.
WATCH | Masse golden in 50m backstroke:
Canada’s Kylie Masse claims world championship gold in 50m backstroke
8 hours ago
Duration 7:04
Kylie Masse of LaSalle, Ont., added to her silver medal in the 100 metre backstroke with a gold medal in the 50 metre backstroke event at the 2022 FINA world championships in Budapest.
Masse became the first swimmer from Canada, male or female, to win three golds at a worlds.
Berkoff finished in 27.39 seconds, with bronze medallist Analia Pigree of France just one one-hundredth of a second behind.
Canada’s Ingrid Wilm barely missed the podium, placing fourth in 27.43 seconds.
“I had a horrible touch,” Wilm said. “I know I can do better than that. You have good days and bad days.”
For more stories about the experiences of Black Canadians — from anti-Black racism to success stories within the Black community — check out Being Black in Canada, a CBC project Black Canadians can be proud of. You can read more stories here.
VANCOUVER – The Vancouver Canucks announced Tuesday that defenceman Alex Edler will sign a one-day contract in order to officially retire as a member of the NHL team.
The signing will be part of a celebration of Edler’s career held Oct. 11 when the Canucks host the Philadelphia Flyers.
The Canucks selected Edler, from Ostersund, Sweden, in the third round (91st overall) of the 2004 NHL draft.
He played in 925 career games for the Canucks between the 2006-07 and 2020-21 seasons, ranking fourth in franchise history and first among defencemen.
The 38-year-old leads all Vancouver defencemen with 99 goals, 310 assists and 177 power-play points with the team.
Edler also appeared in 82 career post-season contests with Vancouver and was an integral part of the Canucks’ run to the 2011 Stanley Cup final, putting up 11 points (2-9-11) across 25 games.
“I am humbled and honoured to officially end my career and retire as a member of the Vancouver Canucks,” Edler said in a release. “I consider myself lucky to have started my career with such an outstanding organization, in this amazing city, with the best fans in the NHL. Finishing my NHL career where it all began is something very special for myself and my family.”
Edler played two seasons for Los Angeles in 2021-22 and 2022-23. He did not play in the NHL last season.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
The sixth-ranked Canadian women will face World Cup champion Spain in an international friendly next month.
Third-ranked Spain will host Canada on Oct. 25 at Estadio Francisco de la Hera in Almendralejo.
The game will be the first for the Canadian women since the Paris Olympics, where they lost to Germany in a quarterfinal penalty shootout after coach Bev Priestman was sent home and later suspended for a year by FIFA over her part in Canada’s drone-spying scandal.
In announcing the Spain friendly, Canada Soccer said more information on the interim women’s coaching staff for the October window will come later. Assistant coach Andy Spence took charge of the team in Priestman’s absence at the Olympics.
Spain finished fourth in Paris, beaten 1-0 by Germany in the bronze-medal match.
Canada is winless in three previous meetings (0-2-1) with Spain, most recently losing 1-0 at the Arnold Clark Cup in England in February 2022.
The teams played to a scoreless draw in May 2019 in Logroñés, Spain in a warm-up for the 2019 World Cup. Spain won 1-0 in March 2019 at the Algarve Cup in São João da Venda, Portugal.
Spain is a powerhouse in the women’s game these days.
It won the FIFA U-20 World Cup in 2022 and was runner-up in 2018. And it ousted Canada 2-1 in the round of 16 of the current U-20 tournament earlier this month in Colombia before falling 1-0 to Japan after extra time in the quarterfinal.
Spain won the FIFA U-17 World Cup in 2018 and 2022 and has finished on the podium on three other occasions.
FC Barcelona’s Aitana Bonmati (2023) and Alexia Putellas (2021 and ’22) have combined to win the last three Women’s Ballon d’Or awards.
And Barcelona has won three of the last four UEFA Women’s Champions League titles.
“We continue to strive to diversify our opponent pool while maintaining a high level of competition.” Daniel Michelucci, Canada Soccer’s director of national team operations, said in a statement. “We anticipate a thrilling encounter, showcasing two of the world’s top-ranked teams.”
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024
TORONTO – The Toronto Maple Leafs have announced cookie brand Oreo as the team’s helmet sponsor for the upcoming NHL season.
The new helmet will debut Sunday when Toronto opens its 2024-25 pre-season against the Ottawa Senators at Scotiabank Arena.
The Oreo logo replaces Canadian restaurant chain Pizza Pizza, which was the Leafs’ helmet sponsor last season.
Previously, social media platform TikTok sponsored Toronto starting in the 2021-22 regular season when the league began allowing teams to sell advertising space on helmets.
The Oreo cookie consists of two chocolate biscuits around a white icing filling and is often dipped in milk.
Fittingly, the Leafs wear the Dairy Farmers of Ontario’s “Milk” logo on their jerseys.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
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