"Fuck...": Summer wins gold, breaks record and ends up upset

It couldn't have been a better start. Right at the start of the afternoon session on the fifth day of the World Swimming Championships, the women's 200 butterfly race brought a wealth of potential stories and heroines to Singapore, led by Canadian Summer McIntosh, seeking her third gold medal at these World Championships, and passing through one of the outside lanes by Zidi Yu, a 12-year-old Chinese prodigy who was reaching her second final on this stage that marks the beginning of everything. Almost naturally, the heavy favorite secured another victory, leaving the competition miles behind. At the end, she couldn't help but let out a lamenting "fuck..."

McIntosh, 18, had as her main goal not a medal but the world record, which has stood for over a decade and a half and is held by China's Liu Zige at 2:01.81. Everything pointed to her achieving the goal, but a poor turn on the final lap and a final half-pool swim ended up preventing, or likely delaying, the much-desired achievement. The Canadian won, looked at the scoreboard in the arena, realized she had beaten both her personal and Championship bests, but couldn't hide her disappointment with her 2:01.99 time, ahead of American Regan Smith (2:04.99) and Australian Elizabeth Dekkers (2:06.12). For the second time, Zidi Yu was on the edge of the podium in fourth place (2:06.43).

"The big goal I had with my coach was to break the world record , but I didn't manage it. I think I ruined the whole race with what I did in the last 15 meters. I broke my personal best, I wanted more, but I'm already looking forward, and tomorrow [Friday] I'll have another great final," Summer McIntosh said in the quick interview area, as footage of French coach Fred Vergnoux and her own parents watched the final time and looked away while applauding the gold medal. The next challenge? Probably the toughest of all: trying to beat multi-medal winner Katie Ledecky in the 800 free, after her victory in the 400 free and the American's triumph in the 1,500 free final.

Another semifinal, another final, another champion for the world to follow: Léon Marchand. After his fabulous performance the day before, setting a world record in the 200 medley in the semifinals, all eyes were once again on the possibility of breaking his own record. "Now I'm hoping for better," his coach, Bob Bowman, who won't be in Singapore, reportedly wrote in a message. It seemed like he might succeed; the third round of breaststroke dashed that possibility once and for all.

Could the coach have been disappointed? Not much. Currently head of the University of Texas swimming office, Bowman watched the three athletes he works with battle it out for the final until midway through the race. Marchand took the lead by half a length, then tried to recover from a breaststroke segment that didn't go as well, eventually winning with a time of 1:53.68, not a world record, but with what remains the second-fastest time for the distance (personal and world). The Frenchman didn't leave with the same look as Summer McIntosh, but he also hinted that he would have liked to have gone a little further, amid hugs to his friends Shaine Casas (USA, who ran 1:54.30 and became the fourth-fastest in the distance behind Marchand, Ryan Lochte, and Michael Phelps) and Hubert Kos (Hungary, 1:55.34).

There was still one more highly anticipated final, one more record to break. After winning the 200 free, David Popovici faced his biggest test in the 100 free with the increased competition, but he once again delivered a feat in the final 50 meters, leaving all his closest rivals behind and finishing with a new personal and European best of 46.51, ahead of American Jack Alexy (46.92) and Australian Kyle Chalmers (47.17), who left Guilherme Santos without a medal (47.35). Thus, the world record for the distance remains held by China's Pan Zhanle from the Paris Games (46.40).

Rounding out the day's individual finals, another American record fell: while all eyes were on American Regan Smith, who had taken silver in the 200 medley, it was her compatriot Katharine Berkoff who won the 50 backstroke final with a time of 27.08, ahead of Smith (27.25). The bronze went to China's Letian Wan with 27.30, ahead of Canada's Lylie Masse (27.33).