Summer bummer: McIntosh to skip Commonwealth Games
The 18-year-old, widely regarded as the best female swimmer on the planet, claimed another gold medal at the world championships in Singapore on Thursday night, powering to victory in the 200m butterfly ahead of Australia's Lizzy Dekkers, who took bronze.
McIntosh's star power is undeniable, but a scheduling clash appears set to rob the 2026 Games of one of its biggest drawcards – unless there's a last-minute change of heart or a campaign to lure her back.
Three well-placed swimming sources, speaking on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the issue, told this masthead McIntosh will not represent Canada at the Games, which run from July 23 to August 2 in Glasgow.
The primary reason is that McIntosh is putting her focus on the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships (Pan Pacs), which start on August 12 in Irvine, California.
The Pan Pacs, last held in 2018 in Tokyo, feature powerhouse nations such as Australia, Canada, the United States, Japan and Brazil. It is a major meet for non-European countries outside the world championships and Olympics.
Canada is still expected to send a reasonably strong team to the Commonwealth Games, but McIntosh's absence will make it harder for organisers to attract the casual sports fan hoping to catch a glimpse of a teenager who already has four Olympic medals to her name.
McIntosh is aiming to emulate Michael Phelps as the only swimmer in more than half a century of world championship history to win five individual gold medals at a single meet.
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