Summer McIntosh came within a whisker of breaking a long-standing world record, and Leon Marchand failed to improve on a new mark he set just a night earlier, but both young guns won gold medals at the world championships in Singapore on Thursday.
Romania's David Popovici also flirted with a record on Day 5 at the World Aquatics Championships Arena, with the 20-year-old claiming a thrilling 100-meter freestyle gold to go with the 200 crown he won on Day 3.
The 200 butterfly world record of 2 minutes, 01.81 seconds set by China's Liu Zige in 2009 is the last surviving mark from the supersuit era in women's swimming — and McIntosh all but took it down.
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