2023 World Champs Preview: Summer McIntosh, Regan Smith Set for Epic 200 Fly Battle

2023 WORLD AQUATICS CHAMPIONSHIPS

• July 23 to 30, 2023
• Fukuoka, Japan
• Marine Messe Fukuoka
• LCM (50m)
• Meet Central
• Preview Index

BY THE NUMBERS — WOMEN’S 200 BUTTERFLY

• World Record: Liu Zige, China – 2:01.81 (2009)
• World Junior Record: Summer McIntosh, Canada – 2:04.70 (2023)
• Championship Record: Jessicah Schipper, Australia – 2:03.41 (2009)
• 2022 World Champion: Summer McIntosh, Canada – 2:05.20

The 200-meter butterfly is officially experiencing an international resurgence after only 17 swimmers entered the event at the Tokyo 2021 Olympics (and one pulled out of prelims).

It has been a decade since it took a sub-2:06 time to make the women’s 200-meter butterfly podium at the World Championships. But it looks like that might very well be the case this year with a stacked race taking shape later this month in Fukuoka, Japan.

A League of Their Own

Canadian phenom Summer McIntosh is aiming to become the first back-to-back 200 fly world champion since Jessicah Schipper did so in 2007 and 2009. Since last year’s victory in 2:05.20, the 16-year-old McIntosh set a U.S. Open record in the event during the Pro Swim Series stop in Fort Lauderdale this past March (2:05.05) before lowering her own world junior record to 2:04.70 at Canadian Trials later that month.

McIntosh will face some stiff competition at this meet — Katie Ledecky and Ariarne Titmus in the 400 free, Kaylee McKeown and Kate Douglass in the 200 IM — but the 200 fly could be her toughest test with Regan Smith on a red-hot tear ever since joining coach Bob Bowman’s pro group at Arizona State.

Smith scorched a new American record with her world-leading 2:03.87 at last month’s Sun Devil Open, skipping 2:04 altogether after her previous-best stood at 2:05.30 from her silver-medal showing at the Tokyo 2021 Olympics. Her new lifetime best made her the fourth-fastest performer in history. A few weeks later at U.S. Nationals, the 21-year-old American was a couple seconds slower with a 2:05.79, but still comfortably ahead of runner-up Lindsay Looney (2:07.35).

Smith will be out for redemption this year after missing the Worlds podium last year by less than half a second. Making that mission more difficult is the fact that she’ll have to manage this event as a double with the women’s 50 backstroke also falling on the fourth and fifth days of this year’s schedule. Plus, she’s still learning how to taper under Bowman, calling their first attempt before U.S. Nationals “a learning experience.”

With McIntosh and Smith clicking at the right time, the pair appears to be a tier above the rest of the field at the moment. However, there’s impressive depth behind them that should produce an exciting showdown for third place.

The Battle for Bronze

Reigning Worlds bronze medalist and Tokyo Olympic champion Zhang Yufei is a bit of a question mark in this event after pulling out of the 2022 Short Course World Championships midway through the meet with an elbow injury. During her rehab process, the 25-year-old from China focused on lower-body strength and improving her technique on turns and underwaters.

Yufei returned to the 200 fly at the Chinese National Championships in April, triumphing in 2:07.99. That time ranks outside the top 10 this season, but we know she has more left in the tank. She’s only two summers removed from hitting an Olympic record of 2:03.86 in Tokyo, which stands as the third-fastest time ever.

Sometimes, time out of the water and new training methods can work wonders for veteran swimmers. Other times, they can backfire. Only time will tell if Yufei can muster a third podium finish in this event, eight years after her bronze medal performance at the 2015 World Championships in Kazan, Russia. But given the 200 fly depth this year, there’s a chance that she goes even faster than she did last year (bronze in 2:06.32), breaks the 2:06 barrier for the first time since the Tokyo Olympics, and still misses a medal.

The third-fastest time in the world this season belongs to 19-year-old Australian Elizabeth Dekkers at 2:05.26. She placed 5th at Worlds last year in 2:07.01, within a second of the podium, and has already dropped 1.75 seconds since then. She shaved about half a second off her lifetime best at April’s Aussie Championships (2:06.55) before posting a new Australian All Comers record (2:05.26) at Aussie Trials. Dekkers is searching for more major international hardware after picking up a gold medal at last year’s Commonwealth Games and bronze at last year’s Short Course Worlds.

Right behind Dekkers is 17-year-old Bosnia and Herzegovina star Lana Pudar, who just demolished the European Junior Championships record by more than two seconds with a personal-best 2:06.26 over the weekend. Her best time is faster than Smith’s U.S. girls’ 17-18 national age group (NAG) record of 2:06.39 from 2020, ranks fourth in the world this season, and would have earned bronze at Worlds last year, where she placed 6th (2:07.85).

Other medal contenders include 24-year-old British champion Laura Stephens and 19-year-old Japanese champion Airi Mitsui, who both went best times in April. Stephens registered a 2:06.62 to take half a second off her previous-best 2:07.12 from last May’s Mare Nostrum Tour stop in Barcelona. Last year, Stephens missed the Worlds final by just about half a second. Mitsui shaved over a second off his previous-best 2:07.82 from last year’s Junior Pan Pacs victory with a 2:06.77 at Japanese Nationals. The duo will likely need to dip under 2:06 in order to grace the podium later this month.

Best of the Rest

Hungary’s Boglarka Kapas and Denmark’s Helena Bach will be looking to return to the Worlds final after tying for seventh place last year in 2:08.12. The 30-year-old Kapas, who finished 4th at the Tokyo 2021 Olympics and won the 2019 world title, owns a season-best time of 2:08.86 from her Hungarian Nationals victory in April, which was more than half a second faster than last year’s season best heading into Worlds. Her lifetime best is a 2:06.50 from her win at the 2021 European Championships. Meanwhile, the 23-year-old Bach comes into Worlds with a season-best 2:08.82 from April’s Danish Open and personal-best 2:07.30 from last year’s European Championships, where she took silver behind Pudar.

Hali Flickinger, the silver medalist in this event at the past two editions of Worlds, boasts the seventh-fastest time this season (2:06.80 from the Sun Devil Open in early June), but she’ll be absent from Worlds after finishing behind Looney’s 2:07.35 at U.S. Nationals. Looney was just a tenth of a second off her best time from last July.

Japanese 23-year-old Makino Hiroko qualified second behind Mitsui at Japanese Nationals with a 2:07.45. Her lifetime best is a 2:06.92 from 2017.

Just a couple months after appearing to signal her retirement from competitive swimming, 18-year-old Abbey Connor resurfaced at Aussie Trials to throw down a personal-best 2:07.61 and edge out Tokyo 2021 Olympic finalist Brianna Throssell for the second qualifying spot.

British 22-year-old Emily Large clocked a personal-best 2:07.73 at British Nationals to snag the second qualifying spot behind Stephens.

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