17-year-old world record broken in Montréal

The number of world records set in Myrtha pools has reached 194 following Summer McIntosh’s historic performance in Montréal. The Canadian swimmer set a new world record in the women’s 200m butterfly, stopping the clock at 2:01.65. Her time improved the previous mark of 2:01.81 by 0.16 seconds, breaking a record set by China’s Liu Zige in October 2009 that had remained unbeaten for almost 17 years. The result is also McIntosh’s fourth long-course world record set in a Myrtha pool, following three previous records at the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre in 2023 and 2024.

Liu’s former mark was the longest-standing women’s world record in long-course swimming and the last remaining women’s global standard from the era of polyurethane racing suits. McIntosh had already come close to breaking it at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships in Singapore, where she recorded a time of 2:01.99 and became only the second woman to complete the event in under 2:02.

The record came on the opening night of the Trials at Montréal’s Parc Olympique, which hosted the Olympic swimming events during the Montréal 1976 Games. The event also takes place during the venue’s 50th anniversary year. The Sports Center includes a 50-meter competition pool and a diving pool, both refurbished using RenovAction technology in 2015.

The latest achievement continues a world record tally in Myrtha pools that began in 1995.