Blake Tierney of Canada, Lee Ju-ho of South Korea, Hubert Kos of Hungary and Yohann Ndoye-Brouard of France compete in the men's 200-meter backstroke semifinal at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore, Thursday, July 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
Summer McIntosh of Canada, top, competes in the women's 800-meter freestyle heats at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore, Friday, Aug.1, 2025. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)
Pieter Coetze of South Africa, Hubert Kos of Hungary and Blake Tierney of Canada compete in the men's 200-meter backstroke final at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore, Friday, Aug. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
Blake Tierney of Canada, Lee Ju-ho of South Korea, Hubert Kos of Hungary and Yohann Ndoye-Brouard of France compete in the men's 200-meter backstroke semifinal at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore, Thursday, July 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
Summer McIntosh of Canada, top, competes in the women's 800-meter freestyle heats at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore, Friday, Aug.1, 2025. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)
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Pieter Coetze of South Africa, Hubert Kos of Hungary and Blake Tierney of Canada compete in the men's 200-meter backstroke final at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore, Friday, Aug. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
SINGAPORE - Saskatoon's Blake Tierney finished fourth in the men’s 200-metre backstroke at the world swimming championships on Friday.
Tierney finished with a time of one minute 55.09 seconds, 47 hundredths shy of the podium.
Hungary’s Hubert Kós won gold in 1:53.19, followed by South Africa’s Pieter Coetze (1:53.36) and France’s Yohann Ndoye-Brouard (1:54.62).
Tierney broke the Canadian record twice — in the heats (1:55.17) and again in the semifinal (1:55.03) — to qualify for the final.
Canada has won six medals at the world aquatics championships -- five in swimming and one in high diving.
Summer McIntosh has struck gold in all three of her events — the 400 freestyle, 200 individual medley and 200 butterfly.
She returned to the pool Friday for the 800 freestyle heats, qualifying for Saturday’s final and a showdown with reigning Olympic champion Katie Ledecky of the United States.
McIntosh won her heat in 8:19.88, the third-fastest time overall behind Australia’s Lani Pallister (8:17.06) and Ledecky (8:14.62), who advanced from the final heat.
The 18-year-old from Toronto is chasing five individual titles — a feat only U.S. great Michael Phelps has achieved at a single world championship.
This report by °µÍø½ûÇø was first published Aug. 1, 2025.
