Summer McIntosh eyes 5 individual events at swimming worlds, then a move
Triple Olympic gold medalist Summer McIntosh wants to swim five individual events at this summer's world championships and at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, plus plans to move to a new training base in between.
McIntosh, an 18-year-old Canadian, said this will be her final season in Sarasota, Florida, under Brent Arckey, her full-time coach for the last two and a half years.
'Coach Brent has really pushed me to be the best swimmer I can be, and I'll forever cherish my years here.' she said. 'It's been a great run.'
She is leaving amicably, seeking to continue her personal and professional development while factoring in academics but not swimming in the NCAA. McIntosh and Arckey gave a joint interview to CBC Sports to discuss her decision and reflect on their success together.
Arckey said he had mixed emotions.
'This is what we do here; everybody goes onto another step,' he said. 'I'm happy to usher her into the next part of her career. Glad I've been a part of it, and I will always be a part of it, however she wants me to be a part of it, in the years to come. I'm proud of her. I'm proud of what we've done. I'll obviously be sad to see her go. But at the same time, part of what I do as a developmental coach is encourage these kids to get out of the nest, too.'
She has already reached out to Bob Bowman, the University of Texas head coach who also coaches pro swimmers in Austin. Bowman was Michael Phelps' career-long coach and coached France's Léon Marchand to four individual golds at the Paris Olympics.
McIntosh hasn't decided yet where she will move, but she does plan to visit Bowman. McIntosh's three Olympic golds came in events that Phelps and Marchand also swam — the 200m and 400m individual medleys and the 200m butterfly.
'Bob having someone like the greatest of all time swimmer Michael Phelps, being able to do all those events is definitely an attraction, and along with Leon as well,' she told CBC Sports.
McIntosh swam four individual events at the Paris Olympics and at the 2023 Worlds. She said she wants to swim five individual events at a major international meet for the first time at this summer's worlds in Singapore, then do it again at the 2028 LA Olympics.
That could mean adding the 800m freestyle. McIntosh is the second-fastest woman in history in the event, but has never raced at a major meet.
Last February, McIntosh became the first swimmer to defeat Katie Ledecky in an 800m free final in 14 years. McIntosh then swam 8:09.86 earlier this month, a time that would have won the 2024 Olympic 800m free by 1.18 seconds over Ledecky.
'Definitely not my favorite event, but I am good at it, so maybe I'll grow to like it again,' she said in the CBC Sports interview. 'At worlds I definitely want to be doing five individual events. What that looks like, I don't know exactly yet.'
She also doesn't know what her 2028 Olympic swimming program could look like.
'But for LA, definitely doing five individual events is a long-term goal of mine for sure,' she said.
Nick Zaccardi,
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Yahoo
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McIntosh sets Canadian record in 800M freestyle
VICTORIA — Two Canadian Olympic medallists went head-to-head in a nail-biting 100-metre butterfly race, while Summer McIntosh of Toronto set a Canadian record in the 800-metre freestyle on Sunday at the Bell Canadian Swimming Trials in Victoria. Ilya Kharun of Montreal and Josh Liendo of Toronto squared off in the same race that saw them share a podium at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Advertisement Kharun won in a personal best time of 50.37 seconds, touching the wall .09 ahead of Liendo. Both were well under the AQUA A qualifying time of 51.77 for this summer's world championships in Singapore. The 20-year-old Kharun was happy with the win but sees room for improvement. 'There's definitely some tweaks I can improve on,' said Kharun. 'I know it's not perfect yet. There's some things we've got to work on.' Liendo took silver in Paris, and Kharun the bronze. It was the first time two Canadian men stood on the Olympic podium together and first double podium for Swimming Canada since 1976 (Cheryl Gibson, Becky Smith — silver and bronze 400IM). McIntosh had a sellout crowd on its feet at Saanich Commonwealth Place cheering as she swam the 800 metres in 8:05.07. That shaved almost five seconds off her own Canadian record and was the third-fastest time ever, 0.95 of a second off the world record American legend Katie Ledecky set in May. Advertisement 'I'm always hoping to break records and push the boundaries of sport,' said the 18-year-old, who set a world record in the 400-metre freestyle on Saturday's opening night. 'I'm always trying to be faster and faster. That just gives me more fuel to the fire.' Para swimmer Nicholas Bennett won his second event of the trials. The S14 swimmer with the Red Deer Catalina Swim Club won the men's 200-m multi-class freestyle event in 1:54.44. He earned a silver medal in the same race at the Paris 2024 Paralympics. 'It was really good,' said the 21-year-old from nearby Parksville, B.C., who won the men's 100-m multi-class breaststroke Saturday. 'We're right where we want to be.' Advertisement Kylie Masse of Lasalle, Ont., also picked up her second victory of the meet by winning the 50-m backstroke in 27.24 seconds. Ingrid Wilm of the High Performance Centre-Vancouver celebrated her 27th birthday by finishing second in 27.58. Both swimmers were under the AQUA A qualifying time of 28.22. 'I've been enjoying doing it and putting a little more focus on it this year,' Masse said about the sprint race, in which she was the 2022 world champion. 'Every little detail counts, trying to execute it perfectly. It's really fast and really hard.' Earning a spot on the world championships team helped Wilm shake off the disappointment of finishing third in the 100-back Saturday night. 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(Reuters) -Canadian three-times Olympic champion Summer McIntosh set a world record in the women's 400 metres freestyle at the Canadian Swimming Trials in Victoria, British Columbia, on Saturday. The 18-year-old clocked 3:54.18 to better Australian Ariarne Titmus' mark of 3:55.38 set at the 2023 World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan. "Going into tonight, I knew that my training has been really good these past few months, and I knew that I could do something special," McIntosh told public broadcaster CBC. "So being able to input my training in doing that - I didn't think my training would be 54.1 but I'm really happy with that." At the Paris Olympics, McIntosh became the first athlete from Canada to win three gold medals at a single Olympic Games. In Paris, the four-times World Aquatics champion won gold in the 400 metres individual medley, 200 butterfly and 200 individual medley, as well as taking silver in the 400 freestyle. But things felt different at the Canada trials. "I just felt so strong throughout, and that's never been the case in the 400 freestyle for me. That last 100, I'm always really, really hurting. "But I flipped at the 200 and I was just cruising, so I knew that I was having a strong swim. I could tell by the crowd and knew the way they were cheering that I was probably close to the world record. "So I really tried to push that last part for them."
