The clock read 2:01.65. In Montreal, on the first night of the Canadian Swimming Trials, Summer McIntosh reached for a wall that had stood beyond every woman in the sport for seventeen years. She touched, and the oldest individual world record in women's swimming was gone.

The record belonged to Liu Zige of China, 2:01.81, set in 2009. McIntosh's mark erased the last great line drawn in the super-suit era, before the polyurethane suits were banned in 2010. The previous record of 2:01.81 was set by China's Liu Zige in October 2009 at the tail end of a two-year stretch when the world's best swimmers rewrote the record books in polyurethane suits that were banned starting in 2010. McIntosh, a 19-year-old from Toronto, now owns the world record in four events — the 200m and 400m individual medleys, the 400m freestyle and the 200m fly.

How the race was decided

McIntosh went out hard. She broke cleanly from the blocks and built a lead through the opening 100 metres but still trailed Liu by two-tenths of a second. The old record was still ahead of her at the midpoint. Then she took it apart. She shaved six-tenths off Liu's split in the next 50 metres, before a roaring crowd sensing history came alive for the final stretch. The last length was hers alone. She finished 8.5 seconds ahead of runner-up Mary-Sophie Harvey. Harvey finished second in 2:10.15, and Clare Watson rounded out the podium in 2:12.58.

She felt it before she saw it. "That last 50 [metres] was pure adrenaline and I could hear the crowd going crazy and I knew I was probably under or ..." McIntosh said as she addressed the crowd, thanking them as the reason she broke it. A sign in the stands read, in her words, an invitation to fly.

A record she thought untouchable

This one carried weight beyond the others. "Growing up, this is the one world record that I thought I would never break." She had circled it before. McIntosh has long targeted the record, coming within 0.18 seconds with a time of 2:01.99 last year in the world championships. The 200 butterfly also completed a rare collection. She now owns the world record in four events — the 200m and 400m individual medleys, the 400m freestyle and the 200m fly. The margins tell their own story. She holds a .16 edge over Liu in the 200 fly and a 1.20-second margin in the 400 freestyle over Ariarne Titmus.

The next night she returned to win the 400m individual medley in 4:27.35, short of her own world record but comfortably clear of the field. It was a quieter footnote to a loud beginning.

The record that was supposed to outlast everyone now belongs to a 19-year-old from Toronto, set in the city where she swims.

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