How Canada's record-smashing Summer McIntosh is chasing the legend of Michael Phelps

National Post

2 days ago

Summer McIntosh 's first connection with the greatest swimmer of all time, cute and contrived as it was at the time, came when she was earlier in her teens and named her pet cat Mikey after the unparalleled swimming star, Michael Phelps.
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Now the comparisons are growing stronger and more tangible.
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After a record-setting week at the Canadian Trials in Victoria, B.C., there is now no doubt that the Etobicoke swimmer is the rising star of her sport. And here's where the links to the great Phelps, the American legend, get crazy.
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McIntosh, the three-time gold-medal winner at last summer's Paris Olympics, shattered three world records at the Commonwealth pool in an historic effort to prepare for this summer's world championship in Singapore. Those powerful performances made her the first swimmer to claim three individual marks since Phelps did it in his tour de force 2008 Beijing Olympics, where he won eight golds.
As an 18-year-old, you'd certainly expect that McIntosh's best years are ahead of her. And, as much as Phelps' record 23 Olympic golds seem out of reach, the links between the two elite athletes are about to get stronger. After the worlds in Singapore, McIntosh will move to Texas to train with Bob Bowman, who coached Phelps to all the success during his glorious career.
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'World records are made to be broken, so by the time I leave the sport I want to make sure that record is was fast as possible,' McIntosh said in a pool-side interview broadcast to the crowd in Victoria. 'That really keeps me going because I know there's always going to be the next generation of kids growing up and they're going to be chasing the record.'
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The latest world record came on Wednesday in her final event at the Trials when she eclipsed her own mark in the 400-metre individual medley in a time of 4:23.65. That clocking trimmed .73 off the record she had set at last year's Olympic trials for a race she would claim gold in during the Paris Games.
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WORLD RECORD #3 💥 Summer McIntosh just shattered her own world record in 4:23.65 — rewriting history again at the Bell Canadian Swimming Trials.
Yup, that's THREE world records in one week. 🇨🇦 pic.twitter.com/UQFR7G5IKn
— Team Canada (@TeamCanada) June 12, 2025
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Earlier in the meet, McIntosh won the 200 IM in 2:05.70, dropping the record of 2:06.12 by Hungary's Katinka Hosszu that had been in place for nearly 10 years. The first record came in her opening race of the meet, a 3:54.18 clocking in the 400-metre freestyle.
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Some observers will suggest that a near miss was one of her boldest wins, however. McIntosh's winning time in the 200-metre butterfly on Tuesday was just .45 seconds off a record set by China's Liu Zige in 2009, one of the longest-standing markers in the sport.
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Her performance at the Trials validates a stellar year of training for McIntosh as she transitions into a new phase of her career. After parting ways with coach Brent Arckey in Sarasota, Fla., earlier in the year, she shifted to France where she has worked under renowned coach Fred Vergnoux to prepare for a big a summer competitive summer ahead. During that stint, McIntosh spent three weeks doing altitude training in the Pyrenees Mountains to further strengthen her endurance.