Summer McIntosh won three individual gold medals a year ago at the Olympics, the star in the Paris pool alongside France’s Léon Marchand.
Apparently unsatisfied with three, she’ll go for five gold medals starting Sunday at the world swimming championships in Singapore. Call it a trial run for the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028.
The worlds is the highest profile swim meet since last year’s Olympics, a showcase for newcomers as well as veterans who hope to stick around until Los Angeles.
McIntosh will be very busy during the eight days in the pool, packing her schedule with five individual events. She’ll contend with prelims in some events, and she’ll also add relays.
“This means 14 or 15 races she could swim in eight days, demanding races,” Canada’s head coach Iain McDonald told The Associated Press. “It’s a very challenging schedule she’s set for herself.”
She was also a mere half-second behind the 200 butterfly record, which has stood since 2009, and just off the 800 freestyle record set last month by American Katie Ledecky.
“She’s such a versatile athlete, it’s kind of tough to nail what her best events are,” McDonald said. “She’s pretty good right across the spectrum.”
Opening day
McIntosh will be the focus on Day 1 of the pool events in Singapore. She swims the 400 freestyle final, and comes back about 30 minutes later for a semifinal of the 200 IM.
Despite holding the world record in the 400 free, she’s never won gold in the event at the Olympics or worlds. This time she’s ready, and credits coach Fred Vergnoux.
“I’m super pumped for the 400 freestyle and I’m really excited to see how I manage doing the double,” McIntosh told Canadian broadcaster the CBC.
McIntosh said Vergnoux has boosted her endurance, pointing more to distance events.
“It’s true that I haven’t been able to do it on world stage yet,” she said of the 400. “I think going into past big meets I haven’t had the confidence in my training and my freestyle in general — technique-wise and endurance-wise — that I have now.”
Ariarne Titmus was the gold medalist in Paris with silver for McIntosh, but the Australian swimmer is taking a year off. It’s Titmus’s record that McIntosh just broke. Ledecky, the bronze medalist in Paris, appears to be McIntosh’s chief rival.
McIntosh will also face Ledecky in the 800, which might be the only race where McIntosh is not favored. It’s probably 50-50, and it might be the biggest race of the championships.
Ledecky set the world record this year of 8:04.12, and McIntosh is right behind, having clocked 8:05.07.
“I think she loves it (the challenge),” Greg Meehan, the U.S. team director, said of Ledecky. “There are always threats coming at you because you’ve set yourself to be the gold standard.”
McIntosh dominates the two IM races, and should also be a favorite in the 200 butterfly.
Ledecky’s best race is the 1,500 where she holds the world record and also has the 23 top times in history in the event — and No. 25, too. McIntosh is not in the field here.
McIntosh, who will swim this fall under Bob Bowman at the University of Texas at Austin, arrived on the scene aged 14 at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, finishing fourth in the 400 free.
“She’s been such a strong performer through her entire career at such a young age,” McDonald said. “But she always manages to surprise you, upping her game a little bit.”
Attention on Yu
Some of the attention in Singapore will be on 12-year-old Chinese swimmer Yu Zidi. Yu has qualified in the 200 and 400 IMs and the 200 butterfly and could face McIntosh in all three finals. Unbelievably, she could win a medal — at 12.
Yu’s time of 2:10.63 in the Chinese championships in May was the fastest by any 12 year old — female or male — in history. She’s also swum 2:06.83 in the 200 fly and 4:35.53 in the 400 IM. Both of those times would have been good for fourth place in last year’s Olympics.
Astoundingly, Yu is 12 to 15 seconds faster than McIntosh was at age 12, depending on the event. That’s roughly a half-lap of a 50-meter pool.
