McIntosh wins 2nd Singapore gold; China prodigy Yu fourth
She then romped to the 400m freestyle crown on Sunday's opening day of competition and is on track to join Michael Phelps as the only swimmer to win five individual titles at a single world championships. 'Going into the race tonight my goal was to put my head on the wall first, so to get that done is good,' said McIntosh. 'I'm not super-happy with the time, but honestly, at a world championship, my goal is just to go as fast as I can. 'Still happy with the gold and hoping to keep up my streak next time.'
The Olympic champion and world record holder came into the 200m medley as strong favourite. The teenager smashed Hungarian Katinka Hosszu's decade-old world record at the Canadian trials in June with a sizzling time of 2:05.70. At the trials she also bettered her own 400m medley world record - her third world mark in a matter of days. McIntosh was one of the stars of the swimming at her breakout Olympics in Paris a year ago.
She won three golds, including the 200m and 400m medley double. In Singapore she will also race in the 400m medley, 200m butterfly and 800m freestyle. Chinese schoolgirl Yu, who juggles swimming with homework, threatened to win an astonishing world medal before she even becomes a teenager. Yu, who turns 13 in October, will also compete in Singapore in the 400m medley and 200m butterfly. The minimum age at the championships is 14 but younger swimmers can compete if - like Yu - they meet the qualifying standard.
Meanwhile, a 'fragile' Gretchen Walsh shook off a stomach bug to power to a dominant victory in the 100m butterfly final at the world championships in Singapore on Monday. World record holder Walsh took gold in 54.73sec - the second-fastest time in history - ahead of Belgium's Roos Vanotterdijk (55.84) and Alexandria Perkins of Australia (56.33). The United States team has been hit with a bout of acute gastroenteritis and Walsh said she had been laid low heading into the race. 'The last couple of days my body has been fragile,' said the 22-year-old. 'I've needed to give myself grace and luckily I had the morning to recover and rest and I used that. 'That helped me enormously going into tonight.'
Walsh set the world record of 54.60sec in May. She said she had to 'reevaluate my expectations' for the world championships after her battle with illness but surprised herself with her performance. 'I'm over the moon,' she said.
'I'm really happy that when it mattered, I was able to do that and get my hands on the wall.' This is Walsh's first long course individual world title and the Olympic silver medalist was clear favorite. She won two relay golds at the Paris Olympics but was pipped to gold in the 100m butterfly final by team-mate Torri Huske in an upset. Huske decided against racing in the 100m butterfly in Singapore due to the gastroenteritis outbreak.- AFP
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