Summer McIntosh Set for Seven Events at Next Week’s Canadian Trials (PSYCH SHEET)
Next week, Summer McIntosh will attempt to secure qualification on her second Olympic team for Canada as the country’s best swimmers assemble in Toronto for the Bell Olympic & Paralympic Trials. The meet was relocated following a fire at Montreal’s Olympic Park, and it will take place over seven days, from Monday, May 13 through Sunday, May 19.
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McIntosh is entered in one event per day over the meet, with a lineup including the 400 freestyle, 200 freestyle, 100 backstroke, 400 IM, 100 freestyle, 200 butterfly and 200 IM. She won world titles in the 400 IM and 200 fly in both 2022 and 2023, and she holds the world record in the longer medley at 4:25.87. She has previously broken the world record in the 400 free and currently ranks No. 2 all-time behind Australia’s Ariarne Titmus.
McIntosh also won Worlds bronze in the 200 free last year, and she is already the quickest swimmer in the world this year. She has emerged as a legitimate medal threat internationally in the 200 IM, set to face off with Australia’s Kaylee McKeown and American world champions Kate Douglass and Alex Walsh at the Paris Games. Notably, McIntosh’s event lineup does not include the 800 free, a race in which she handed American superstar Katie Ledecky her first loss in more than a decade earlier this year.
McIntosh is not an individual contender in the 100 free, but she will race the event to help determine the lineup for a medal-contending 400 free relay, which could also feature Maggie Mac Neil, Mary-Sophie Harvey, Taylor Ruck and/or 2016 Olympic champion Penny Oleksiak. As for the 100 back, McIntosh will clash with multi-time world champion Kylie Masse and recent riser Ingrid Wilm, but it’s unlikely that the versatile star would consider including the event on her Paris program.
In other women’s events, Mac Neil highlights the 100 fly as she aims for a defense of her 2021 Olympic title. She will hope to secure that spot on the first day of the meet. Oleksiak and Ruck will swim the 50, 100 and 200 free, with Ruck also aiming for a spot in the 100 back, while Harvey’s busy lineup includes the 100 fly, 200 free, 400 IM, 100 free and 200 IM.
Veteran Sydney Pickrem will be favored in the 200 breaststroke while also racing the IM events and the 100 breast. That 100 breast will be an event to watch as Canada tries to find a breaststroker to team with Masse, Mac Neil and likely McIntosh on the 400 medley relay, a team with real medal chances for Paris.
On the men’s side, Josh Liendo chases Olympic spots in the 50, 100 and 200 free as well as the 100 fly. He won silver in the butterfly race at last year’s World Championships, and he recently concluded a stellar sophomore season at the University of Florida with national titles in the 50 and 100-yard free plus the 100-yard fly. Ilya Kharun, who won the 200-yard fly national title for Arizona State, will race in the 50 and 100 free plus both butterfly events as he hopes to make his Olympic debut in Tokyo.
Finlay Knox, fresh off an upset World Championships gold in the 200 IM in February, will contest a busy lineup of races: the 100 breast, 100 back, 200 free, 100 free, 200 IM and 100 fly. That gold medal made Knox the first Canadian man to top the podium at an international competition since Brent Hayden tied for 100 free gold at the 2007 Worlds.
Pity she’s not swimming the 800m freestyle. She’d be a realistic shot for Olympic Gold against Ledecky. But be lucky to final in the Olympic 100m Back!
She must be thinking of how much energy she’ll have left by the end of the meet with all the middle distance and relay swims she’ll surely have. Just guessing she’s doing backstroke to show something for the medley relay, if she isn’t top 2 in the 100 free?
She wouldn’t swim the 800m, it falls same day as the 200 IM AND the mixed 4 x 100m meday relay which she might swim too.
i think katie would easily win an olympic final
It is amazing how multitalented Summer is! She is the most versatile swimmer out there. Such a joy to watch her race. I trust she and her coaches know exactly what they are doing♡