Olympic Entries: Sarah Sjostrom Adds 100 Free, Summer McIntosh Drops 200 Free
The official list of Olympic entries, released by World Aquatics on Friday, brought a couple of surprises in the Olympic programs of stars.
Perhaps the biggest change is for Summer McIntosh. She is entered in the 400 freestyle, 200 butterfly, 200 individual medley and 400 individual medley. That means she’ll be dropping the 200 free.
McIntosh was third in the 200 free at the 2023 World Championships in Fukuoka, though with world record holder Mollie O’Callaghan and fellow Aussie Ariarne Titmus, it’s one of the more difficult events to medal in on her program. (Though two of the top three Americans at Trials, Katie Ledecky and Paige Madden, also dropped the event.)
McIntosh won the 400 IM and 200 fly in Fukuoka. The final of the 200 free is in the same session as the 400 IM final in Paris.
Fellow Canadian Maggie MacNeil has added the 100 freestyle. She didn’t swim the event at Canadian Trials but carried an Olympic qualifying time. MacNeil made the team in the 100 fly, the event in which she is the reigning Olympic champ. Both she and McIntosh will be plenty busy with relay duties.
Speaking of Olympic champs: Sarah Sjostrom has picked up the 100 freestyle. The four-time Olympic medalist will swim the 50 free and 100 free, which means she won’t contest the 100 fly, in which she won Olympic gold in 2016, is a four-time world champion and the world record holder. Sjostrom swam just the 50 fly (not an Olympic event) and 50 free at Worlds in 2023. Sjostrom also holds the world record in the 50 and 100 free.
Australian Lani Pallister paired down her program by dropping the 400 free. She’ll focus on the 800 and 1,500. Jamie Perkins is the beneficiary, slotting into the second spot in the event alongside Titmus.
With Sjostrom entering the 100m Freestyle it has now lifted the event to a new high! Wonderful news!
McIntosh makes sense as at best she’d take Bronze behind the Aussie pair. She’d have a more genuine chance at Gold in the 800m Freestyle than the 200m. I’m sad she already dropped that one! So it makes sense to concentrate on events she can actually win.