SwimmingSwimming world record

200 m individual medley, women

Record

2 min 05.70 s

Holder
Summer McIntosh
Date
Place
Victoria, Canada
Standing since
2025 (1 year)

How the record evolved

Chart of the 200 m individual medley, women record, from 1959 to 2025 1959 2026 2 min 40.3 s 2 min 05.70 s

The last record set in each decade, up to the current record (highlighted).

YearRecordHolder
2 min 05.70 sSummer McIntosh
2 min 06.12 sKatinka Hosszú
2 min 06.15 sAriana Kukors
2 min 09.72 sWu Yanyan
2 min 11.73 sUte Geweniger
2 min 14.07 sTracy Caulkins
2 min 23.5 sClaudia Kolb
2 min 40.3 sSylvia Ruuska

Put them in order

Sort these records from the oldest to the most recent.

  1. 2 min 06.15 sAriana Kukors
  2. 2 min 05.70 sSummer McIntosh
  3. 2 min 14.07 sTracy Caulkins
  4. 2 min 40.3 sSylvia Ruuska

What to remember

At the Canadian Trials in Victoria on June 9, 2025, Summer McIntosh finished the 200 m individual medley in 2 min 05.70 s. The race strings together all four strokes over four lengths of a 50 m pool. The international federation recognised a first men's long course record in 1956, and the first women's record a year later.

The milestones show a clock that keeps tightening. Sylvia Ruuska swam 2 min 40.3 s in 1959, Claudia Kolb 2 min 23.5 s in 1967, Tracy Caulkins 2 min 14.07 s in 1978. The margins then became tiny: 2 min 06.15 s for Ariana Kukors in 2009, then 2 min 06.12 s for Katinka Hosszú in 2015. In 66 years the time fell by 21.6%.

Born on August 18, 2006, McIntosh is a three-time Olympic champion and an eight-time world champion. Her strengths are medley, freestyle and butterfly, events in which she holds several world records in both long course and short course pools.

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