Summer McIntosh To Face Latest Grueling Test at FINA World Cup in Toronto
The stretch of racing from mid-June to early August saw Summer McIntosh deliver on every expectation set on her teenage shoulders. A tantalizing international debut at the Tokyo Olympics and an impressive fall of short course meters racing set her up to be one of the most-talked-about swimmers of the abbreviated 2021-through-2024 quadrennium, but McIntosh was a two-time world champion and two-time Commonwealth Games gold medalist before her 16th birthday.
McIntosh won gold medals in the 200 butterfly and 400 IM at the World Championships before sweeping the medleys at the Commonwealth Games, becoming the third-fastest performer in history (and the fastest in six years) in the 400 IM. Additionally, McIntosh won a pair of 400 freestyle silver medals, pushing veteran champions Katie Ledecky (at Worlds) and Ariarne Titmus (at Commonwealth Games) to their respective limits.
Like much of the population of the world’s top swimmers, McIntosh has not raced over the last two months, but she will be defending her home turf this weekend as the FINA World Cup arrived in Toronto. McIntosh is scheduled to swim both IM events, and she will likely take the blocks in the 200 fly for a rematch with the swimmer who finished one spot behind her at Worlds, Hali Flickinger. But surely the real show will come in the 400 freestyle, with Ledecky, Siobhan Haughey and Leah Smith set to visit Canada.
Ledecky, of course, can do just about anything in the 400 free, and her best time is 3:54.06, just over a tenth off Titmus’ 2018 world record (3:53.92). With Ledecky making a very rare short course meters appearance, a shot at the global mark is well within her reach. Haughey, meanwhile, is much better known for her abilities in the 100 and 200 free, both races in which she won Olympic silver medals and short course world titles in 2021, but she has an excellent knack for the 400-meter race in short course. Last year, Haughey won bronze in the event at Short Course Worlds, just a quarter-second behind silver medalist McIntosh, and Haughey also posted the top time during the 2021 ISL season.
And we would be remiss not to mention Smith, a podium finisher in the 400 free at the 2016 Olympics and at the last three World Championships. In the 400 free, Smith is always dangerous.
But given what we have seen from McIntosh all year, there’s no reason to believe anyone entered in the 400 free — heck, anyone entered in the meet — aside from Ledecky could keep pace with this Canadian dynamo. She’s probably a stronger long course swimmer than short course swimmer at this stage of her life, but the pool is plenty long enough for her talent to show through. McIntosh has shown repeatedly throughout the year that she can swim fast without a full taper, so it would be no surprise to see that same elite speed that flashed in Budapest and in Birmingham a few months ago.
It is only a matter of time before McIntosh lowers the first world record of her career, and several short course meters records are softer than their long course cousins as many elite swimmers race in the 25-meter tank sparingly. We’re not going to predict any marks to fall this weekend, but with McIntosh, never say never.
Thank you David for a fantastic article and for giving Sunmer the recognition she deserves. This article is overdue and you nailed it!
🙂