Summer McIntosh Schedule Madness: What Events Will The Newest World-Record Holder Race Internationally?
On the heels of a transcendent performance at Canadian Trials, 16-year-old Summer McIntosh will return to the international stage in July with a target on her back as world-record holder in multiple events. No longer is McIntosh the rising teenage star when she has posted world records in the 400 freestyle and 400 IM plus the fastest time since 2016 in the 200 IM (and a world junior record in the 200 butterfly to boot) and when she will be defending world titles she won last year (before her record-breaking surge) in the 200 fly and 400 IM.
But McIntosh will face the same crunch as so many multi-talented swimmers have throughout the years: which events to focus on for the biggest meets. Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochte and Katie Ledecky are among those to adjust their lineups based on the schedule of races, and each one certainly skipped races in which they would have been favorites to win Olympic medals. Just last year, McIntosh dropped the individual 200 free from her World Championships lineup but recorded a time leading off Canada’s 800 free relay that would have been good enough for gold — and that was before the 200 IM became a serious consideration.
Assuming that McIntosh would race all five of her individual events plus swim with her Canadian teammates on the 400 free relay and 800 free relay (a potential 15 races), here’s what her schedule would look like for this summer’s World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan.
Sunday, July 23 (Day One)
- 200 IM Prelims
- 400 Freestyle Prelims
- 400 Freestyle Final
- 200 IM Semifinals
- 400 Freestyle Relay Final
Monday, July 24 (Day Two)
- 200 IM Final
Tuesday, July 25 (Day Three)
- 200 Freestyle Prelims
- 200 Freestyle Semifinals
Wednesday, July 26 (Day Four)
- 200 Butterfly Prelims
- 200 Freestyle Final
- 200 Butterfly Semifinals
Thursday, July 27 (Day Five)
- 200 Butterfly Final
- 800 Freestyle Relay Final
Friday, July 28 (Day Six) — OFF
Saturday, July 29 (Day Seven) — OFF
Sunday, July 30 (Day Eight)
-
400 IM Prelims
-
400 IM Final
With this schedule laid out, the biggest possible conflict occurs on the first day, when McIntosh would deal with the early rounds of the 200 IM plus a pair of 400 free races plus the 400 free relay. Even if she skipped the relay, that’s still four races, and the rest time between the 400 free final and 200 IM semifinal would be 15-20 minutes maximum. Given that McIntosh has generally played it conservative with her racing schedule at these big meets (a notable difference from her predecessor as 400 IM world-record holder, Katinka Hosszu), it would make sense for her to drop one of the two races for this year, and after her world record in the 400 free, the guess is that she would skip the 200 IM.
McIntosh could also opt to pass on the individual 200 free, as she did at the 2022 World Championships, but an attempt at swimming that event fits far better with the World Championships program. If she opted out of the 200 IM, she would have a full day off before the early rounds of the 200 free, and balancing the 200 free final with two swims in the 200 fly could be manageable, with a longer break between the final and semifinal on day four.
How about for the 2024 Olympics, with the Paris Games marking the debut of a nine-day racing lineup for swimming? Here’s what could be on McIntosh’s agenda there.
Saturday, July 27 (Day One)
- 400 Freestyle Prelims
- 400 Freestyle Final
- 400 Freestyle Relay Final
Sunday, July 28 (Day Two)
- 200 Freestyle Prelims
- 200 Freestyle Semifinals
Monday, July 29 (Day Three)
- 400 IM Prelims
- 400 IM Final
- 200 Freestyle Final
Tuesday, July 30 (Day Four) — OFF
Wednesday, July 31 (Day Five)
- 200 Butterfly Prelims
- 200 Butterfly Semifinals
Thursday, August 1 (Day Six)
- 200 Butterfly Final
- 800 Freestyle Relay Final
Friday, August 2 (Day Seven)
- 200 IM Prelims
- 200 IM Semifinals
Saturday, August 3 (Day Eight)
- 200 IM Final
Sunday, August 4 (Day Nine) — OFF
Given the Olympic schedule, McIntosh’s chief rivals in the 200 IM should not be deceived by her potential absence from the event this year. The 200 IM comes at the end of the Paris schedule, so she could easily add the shorter medley and aim for another gold medal in that one. She will surely be fatigued by that point in the schedule, but she could be riding the momentum of an already-successful Olympics with her main events plus two relays already done. The potential casualty of her lineup could be the 200 free, which lines up for a final on the same day as the 400 IM.
We must acknowledge the potential historical implications of such a program. On the men’s side, only three swimmers have ever captured three or more individual golds at one Olympics: Mark Spitz (four in 1972), Phelps (four in 2004 and five in 2008) and Caeleb Dressel (three in 2021). The list of women to achieve such success is significantly longer: Australia’s Shane Gould in 1972, East Germany’s Kornelia Ender in 1976, East Germany’s Kristin Otto and the USA’s Janet Evans in 1988, Hungary’s Krisztina Egerszegi in 1992, Ireland’s Michelle Smith in 1996, the Netherlands’ Inge de Bruijn in 2000 and then Ledecky and Hosszu in 2016.
However, only Otto has ever won four. In 2016, Ledecky would surely have joined her if the 1500 free was an Olympic event while Hosszu finished just six hundredths away from a fourth gold in the 200 back when American Maya DiRado used a stunning final surge to get ahead of the Hungarian at the finish.
It would be foolish and naïve to suggest that McIntosh is now a favorite to win four individual gold medals, but because of her world-record success this week plus her skyrocketing improvement, it’s worth remembering this information as she speeds toward Paris and a chance at more stunning swimming. The schedule, while not completely perfect, will not be too much of an obstacle in McIntosh’s pursuit of history.
To this particular question, much — like nearly ALL — depends on how much and what sort of growth her body experiences between now and the Paris meet, if much less so Fukuoka, as that meet is relatively nigh. The mid/late ‘teens growth spurt just now has begun, and I have to say, strictly from last week’s meet’s physical appearance (as opposed to that plus pool performance) that the first returns bode extremely well for her and poorly for her competitors. As in, the way the pounds are adding on, and the even distribution of the weight (plus added height and wingspan, of course), only can help her.
We know she has had, until this meet, a wobble here or there with late day swims of week-long meets, until just now…maybe. The major question for Paris, at least this early, is: With sixteen months’ aging, and added body surface and weight, will these positively impact her full, nine-day-meet stamina?
My thought: It’s the Olympics; gold matters, not necessarily how many. I’m hoping she plays it safe with four events (and drops, I suppose, the 200 free) if that is how she feels pre-event. She’ll know. The girl is closely in touch with what she can and can’t do, and there seems to be immaculate communication between Summer and her key people.
(Note: I say ‘nearly all’ depends on this, because her conditioning always is in the first percentile. It can’t get much better there…)
Thanks for the article, I’ve been wondering what she will swim – even what her best event is!
BTW is there also a medley relay?