Swimming-Canada's McIntosh hungry for more after world championship success
(Reuters) -Canadian sensation Summer McIntosh fell just short in her quest to match Michael Phelps's feat of winning five individual gold medals at a single world championships but that has given her the motivation to improve even more.
McIntosh won the 400 metres individual medley (IM) title on the final day of the world championships in Singapore on Sunday, adding to her 200 IM, 200 butterfly and 400 freestyle golds that saw her named the best female swimmer of the meeting.
The three-times Olympic champion's only failure to stand atop the podium in an individual event came in the 800 freestyle, in which she finished with bronze as American great Katie Ledecky took the victory.
"I think it was very obvious that my goal was five golds. Time just didn't matter. I just wanted to get my hand on the wall the first five times," McIntosh said of her campaign.
"I fell short of that but I think it's just going to keep me hungry and push, and keep moving forward.
"I think this meet, I learned more than any other meet ever. And that says a lot. The thing I'm learning from the most is the bronze and 800 freestyle. And that's going to keep me hungry moving into next season and into LA (Los Angeles Olympics)."
McIntosh has plenty to be proud of, however, as she became just the third swimmer to win five individual medals at a world championships after Phelps and Swede Sarah Sjostrom.
The 18-year-old, who also swam for Canada in the 4x100 medley relay on Sunday, said she had never had such a challenging programme, adding: "I've never done a double before, also doing five individual events.
"I've never done that before, let alone one of them being the 800. My sleep has never been this good. I've never been a good sleeper during meets. I've been able to relax and have amazing sleep.
"Overall, happy with my meet but always want more. I'm just going to celebrate my wins and kind of take a reset heading into next season. The negatives, I'm going to apply to next season."
(Reporting by Aadi Nair in Bengaluru; editing by Clare Fallon)
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