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Canadian sensation Summer McIntosh fell just short in her quest to match Michael Phelps's feat of winning five individual gold medals at a single world championships, but the meet has given her the motivation to improve even more.

McIntosh won the 400m individual medley (IM) title on the final day of the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore on Sunday, adding to her 200m IM, 200m butterfly and 400m freestyle golds that saw her named Best Female Swimmer at the tournament.

The three-time Olympic champion's only failure to stand atop the podium in an individual event came in the 800m freestyle, in which she claimed bronze, as American great Katie Ledecky took the victory.

"I think it was very obvious that my goal was five golds. Time just didn't matter. I just wanted to get my hand on the wall the first five times," McIntosh said of her campaign.

"I fell short of that, but I think it's just going to keep me hungry to push, and to keep moving forward. I think this meet, I learned more than at any other meet ever. And that says a lot. The thing I'm learning from the most is the bronze and 800m freestyle. And that's going to keep me hungry moving into next season and into (the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics)."

McIntosh has plenty to be proud of, however, as she became just the third swimmer to win five individual medals at a world championships after Phelps and Swede Sarah Sjostrom.

The 18-year-old, who also swam for Canada in the 4x100m medley relay on Sunday, said she had never had such a challenging program, adding: "I've never done a double before, also doing five individual events, I've never done that before, let alone one of them being the 800m.

"My sleep has never been this good. I've never been a good sleeper during meets. I've been able to relax and have amazing sleep.

"Overall, happy with my meet, but I always want more. I'm just going to celebrate my wins and kind of take a reset heading into next season. The negatives, I'm going to apply myself to next season."

REUTERS