The very young Canadian swimmer Summer McIntoshaged only 16, made it known that the future belonged to her, after beating the American Katie Ledecky this Saturday in the final of the 400 freestyle of the Short Course World Cup held in Toronto.

An exciting final which only resolved in favor of McIntosh in the last meters during which the Canadian snatched victory by 8 hundredths from Ledecky, the great dominator of the world distance of the last decade.

To do this, Summer McIntosh, current world champion in the 200 butterfly and 400 medley in the long course, not only had to establish a new junior world record, but to set the second best mark of all time, after touching the wall in 3:52.80 minutes.

A record that would have been a new universal record until last Thursday, when the Chinese Bingjie Li destroyed the world record -3:53.92- of the Australian Ariarte Titmus after competing in the Chinese National Championships in 3:51.30.

Record which seemed in danger in Toronto not only due to the presence of McIntosh and Ledecky, but also of the Hong Konger Siobhan Haughey, bronze at the Short Course World Championships organized in 2021 in Abu Dhabi and which she has already won the week last in Berlin with a time of 3:56.52.

But Haughey, a silver medalist in the 100 and 200 freestyles at the last Tokyo Olympics, was ruled out of victory after covering halfway through the event.

A first 200 meters in which Katie Ledecky, as she did during the final of the Long Course World Championships organized last summer in Budapest, where the American won gold ahead of the Canadian, tried to defeat McIntosh with a furious pace.

But if in the Hungarian capital Ledecky was already ahead of McIntosh by almost a second at the entrance to the last hectometer, on this occasion the Canadian not only resisted the pace of the American, but at 275 meters she took the lead of the race.

However, Katie Ledecky, winner of ten Olympic medals and twenty-two world medals, did not want to give up and, in the last remaining length, she returned to the lead.

But even the 23 hundredths lead with which the Washington team started the last 25 meters was not enough to contain the acceleration of Summer McIntosh who finally won by 8 hundredths over a Ledeckywho had to settle for second place with a time of 3:52.88 minutes, the third best mark of all time.

“I'm still a little in shock, because I never would have imagined this time.“McIntosh scored after the test, which shaved almost 5 seconds off his best mark for the distance.

A preview of what awaits us at the Fukuoka 2023 World Championships and especially at the Paris 2024 Games, in which McIntosh and Ledecky will be the stars of a vibrant duel with the Australian Ariarne Titmus and the Chinese Bingjie Li for the title of Olympic champion. 400 free.