Canadian swim star Summer McIntosh confirms she's joining famed coach Bob Bowman's program
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Canadian swimming phenom Summer McIntosh is making it official that following July's world swimming championships she'll be moving to Texas to be coached by Bob Bowman, who famously guided American Michael Phelps to a record 23 Olympic gold medals.
In an exclusive interview with CBC Sports on the pool deck at Toronto's Pan Am Sports Centre on Tuesday, McIntosh said she's committed to Bowman's pro team in Austin, Texas and will be moving there starting late August.
"I think there's a lot of excitement and I think it was something that most people could have guessed even when I started off just because I do similar events to what Bob coaches," McIntosh said. "Some might say it was basically inevitable, but I think now that it's actually happening, hopefully people will be excited."
Bowman served as a coach on the U.S. Olympic team from 2004-2016, and was head coach at Arizona State University from 2015 to 2024. The 59-year-old moved to the U of Texas last year and leads what is widely regarded as the top training group in the world, including Frenchman Leon Marchand, who won four gold medals in Paris last summer, and American stars Regan Smith and Simone Manuel.
In a February interview with CBC Sports, McIntosh said she was leaving Sarasota and hinted at this being her next move, but that she wanted to visit the University of Texas, where Bowman leads the swim program and also runs a professional program, to get a better sense of if she would fit in.
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McIntosh is now ready to make the leap, where she will be swimming with Bowman's professional program rather than the NCAA.
"Bob has been absolutely incredible throughout the whole process, and I knew that at some point I was going to make the move, so him making it so easy and being so welcoming, I'm really excited for next season," she said.
McIntosh, 18, has a goal of five individual gold medals at the L.A. 2028 Olympics and feels moving to Bowman, a coach who knows how to navigate intense individual programs, gives her the best chance of doing that.
In Paris last summer, McIntosh became the first Canadian athlete ever to win three Olympic gold medals at one Games.
"Michael Phelps is the greatest of all time and he was absolutely incredible, and Bob not only created Michael but so many other amazing swimmers as well, so it just shows the consistency of his coaching and his craft, and it gives me a lot of confidence," McIntosh said. "I know I can trust him wholeheartedly with my training.
"I have really big goals and I know that he can match that with the work that he gives me and all of his things that he knows. I can go into a program having full confidence in the training I do day to day and be alongside so many amazing and like-minded athletes and swimmers."
But before she moves to Austin at the end of August, McIntosh will be busy. She's currently in Toronto getting in some final training before heading to Victoria next week for the start of the Canadian swimming trials, which will determine the swimmers who will represent Canada at the world championships in Singapore in late July.
McIntosh has spent the majority of this year training in France under the guidance of French Olympic coach Fred Vergnoux. He is a highly accomplished coach who has led swimmers to Olympic gold medals, hundreds of individual records and podium finishes.
McIntosh said she's been thriving in the highly competitive environment created by Vergnoux at the swimming club in Antibes.
"Fred's absolutely amazing. He's so funny and he's such a smart guy as well," she said. "I can really trust him with my training and the culture he's created at Antibes and the whole group is so like-minded. Everyone knows when they get in the water that he's going to expect your best and we bring that every single day and I think we kind of feed off each other's energy."
She likes that there's a personal care Vergnoux brings to his coaching.
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"I think what's so amazing is he's getting to know us as swimmers, he wants to connect on a more personal level and have that individual relationship with each swimmer," McIntosh said. "Which I think is also really important to connect on that level emotionally because I think swimming is such a big part of our lives, but you've got to know the whole person to know how to kind of handle and build a relationship with them outside of the pool."
McIntosh said Vergnoux will be in Victoria coaching her at trials and through to the world championships. What events she intends to compete in at worlds this upcoming July is still not fully clear at this point.
She has confirmed four of the five events; the 400m freestyle, 200m and 400m individual medleys and 200m butterfly events are locked in, but the fifth and final event of her program still remains a mystery.
McIntosh will be listed in all of the aforementioned events at trials in Victoria. She's also entered in the 800m freestyle, 200m freestyle and 200m backstroke, though it's unlikely she will swim in all of those events.
"I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to do yet, but those are kind of in my top three right now," she said.
McIntosh said she has been adding more distance training to her program in the leadup to trials, perhaps suggesting the 800m freestyle is likely her fifth event.
WATCH | 'She's being so dramatic': Summer McIntosh races high diver Molly Carlson:
'She's being so dramatic': Summer McIntosh races high diver Molly Carlson
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Duration 1:26
The collab we didn't know we needed! Canadian high diver Molly Carlson talks about what it was like to race fellow Red Bull athlete and Canadian swimming phenom Summer McIntosh. More of this please.
"You need to have a very strong aerobic base to get you through day eight, day nine, and things like that. I'm definitely implementing more distance into my training and the French program's also like that, so definitely do more mileage and stuff like that."
Canadian swimming trials run June 7-12 and McIntosh will be competing every day of the event, beginning with the 400m freestyle and 200m IM on opening day.
More than anything, she's looking forward to seeing familiar faces on a Canadian swimming team continuing to make waves on the international scene.
"Team Canada and Swimming Canada is such a family. All the swimmers are super close on the team, and I think that's what makes us thrive so well," McIntosh said. "We have such good team camaraderie that it really helps us in hard moments and really amazing moments because we always bond in those kinds of situations."
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