Tale of the tape: McIntosh vs. Ledecky in the 800-metre freestyle

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There was a theory that Summer McIntosh was conserving energy at the world championships in Singapore for a highly anticipated 800-metre freestyle showdown against Katie Ledecky.

It turns out that theory was extremely wrong.

McIntosh won gold in the 200-metre butterfly by a full three seconds on Thursday, but came away mostly annoyed that she hadn't broken the world record. At 2:01.99, the 18-year-old's time was the second-fastest in the history of the event, but still fell .18 seconds short of the mark set by China's Liu Zige during the supersuit era in 2009. Watch the full race, including McIntosh's reaction, here.

"I was so close, that's what upsets me a little bit," McIntosh told CBC Sports reporter Devin Heroux after the race. "If there's one world record that I wanted to break since the start of my career, it's this one."

Still, the win made McIntosh three-for-three in Singapore. She's attempting to win five solo gold medals at worlds, a feat accomplished only by American great Michael Phelps in 2007 ahead of his iconic eight-gold performance at the Beijing Olympics.

Watch McIntosh's family react to her latest win here, and check out The Ready Room's breakdown of today's action here.

The biggest roadblock in the drive for five was always going to be Ledecky and the 800 freestyle. It already looks like a classic sports story: the rising superstar vs. the wily veteran.

Heats begin Friday at 12:11 a.m. ET, with McIntosh and Ledecky in separate races. The final is scheduled for Saturday at 8:17 a.m. ET. Live coverage is available on CBC Gem and CBCSports.ca.

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