Liam Donnelly on CBC: breaking down Summer McIntosh's 400m IM world record

On June 11, 2025, Summer McIntosh broke her own world record in the women's 400m individual medley at the Bell Canadian Swimming Trials in Victoria, B.C. She swam 4:23.65, taking 0.73 seconds off the 4:24.38 she set at the 2024 Trials in Toronto. It was her third world record in five days, after the 400m freestyle and the 200m individual medley.

That night, Liam Donnelly, Streamline Swimming's Director of Swimming and the former head swim coach at Simon Fraser University, joined CBC News Network's Hanomansing Tonight in studio to break down the swim.

Watch the segment

Liam's analysis starts at about 1:50, after a poolside interview with McIntosh. The full segment is also on CBC's website.

What made the swim historic

• A third world record in five days. McIntosh set long course world records in the 400m freestyle, the 200m individual medley, and the 400m individual medley at the same meet.
• Company few swimmers keep. She became the first swimmer to break three individual long course world records at one meet since Michael Phelps in 2008. The last woman to do it was Inge de Bruijn in 2000.
• Improving her own record. The 4:23.65 took 0.73 seconds off her own record from a year earlier.

Read CBC Sports' full report from day five of the Trials.

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