Latest news with #LeonMarchand
CBC
28-05-2025
- General
- CBC
Canadian swim star Summer McIntosh confirms she's joining famed coach Bob Bowman's program
Social Sharing 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. Summer McIntosh on decision to train under Michael Phelps' former coach 8 minutes ago Duration 14:00 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. McIntosh reflects after silver medal at short course worlds as 'one of the best meets of my life' 5 months ago Duration 1:24 "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 27 days ago 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."
Yahoo
03-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Finke grabs 400m medley victory over world record-holder Marchand
France's Leon Marchand competes in the 200m freestyle at the Tyr Pro Swim Series meetign in Fort Lauderdale, Florida (Carmen Mandato) Quadruple Olympic gold medallist Leon Marchand was still waiting for his first win of the Tyr Pro Swim meeting in Fort Lauderdale on Friday after Bobby Finke snatched a 400m individual medley victory over the world record-holder. Trailing after the butterfly and backstroke legs, Marchand had moved to the front after the breaststroke and turned for home midway through the final freestyle leg with a narrow lead. Advertisement But Finke was able to run down the Frenchman -- who had also made a rare start in the 200m free earlier Friday -- winning in 4min 13.67sec to Marchand's 4:13.86. "I was just very thankful Leon had the 200 before," Finke said. Marchand, who won the 200m breaststroke, butterfly and individual medley and the 400m IM at the Paris Olympics, is competing this week for the first time in four months, having opted out of the short course world championships in December. Since then the 22-year-old had sought a change of pace by training in Australia before rejoining coach Bob Bowman, who said this week that things were "all good" with the French star with the World Championships in Singapore coming up July 27-August 3. Advertisement Marchand, who notched a personal best in finishing third in the 400m free on Thursday, finished eighth in the 200m free, touching in 1:49.66 in a race won by Carson Foster in 1:46.46. In other events, Gretchen Walsh became just the second woman to break 25 seconds in the 50m butterfly, setting an American record of 24.93 in a victory over Kate Douglass and Regan Smith. Sweden's Sarah Sjostrom, who holds the world record of 24.43, is the only other woman to crack 25 seconds in the event, doing so multiple times. Claire Weinstein handed Katie Ledecky her first defeat of the week, clocking 1:54.93 to win the 200m freestyle ahead of the nine-time Olympic gold medallist, who finished second in 1:55.51. Advertisement The runner-up finish followed two scintillating swims from Ledecky, who posted the second-fastest 1,500m free time ever on Wednesday and her fastest 400m free time in nine years on Thursday. Hungary's Paris Olympics gold medallist Hubert Kos cruised to victory in the 200m backstroke, touching in 1:56.45sec with Gavin Keogh second, 2.02sec back. bb/rcw
