Penny Oleksiak. Maggie McNeil. Kylie Masse. Three Canadian swimmers, three world champions, three phenomena. Between them, they have won 14 Olympic medals since 2016.
However, they know very well that another teammate is likely to steal the show from them in less than 500 days at the Paris Games.
Summer McIntosh is only 16, but her list of accomplishments is already staggering since she broke through with a fourth-place finish at the Tokyo Games when she was 14.
A two-time individual world champion in Budapest last summer – the youngest since Tracy Caulkins in 1978 – the Torontonian made headlines again earlier this month by inflicting a rare “defeat” on Katie Ledecky in Fort Lauderdale.
The American had won all of her 200m-plus freestyle races in long-course competitions held in the United States since 2014.
The feat made headlines in sports sites, especially because the young Canadian had brought down a legend like Ledecky, the best freestyle swimmer in history.
Summer McIntosh is about to rewrite the swimming record, but for now, she is the best kept secret in Canadian sport. On the phone, the teenager laughs when she hears this statement.
” I don’t know. I try not to focus on that kind of stuff at all,” she dropped from Florida, where she has been training full-time since the start of the season.
“My main goal is just to inspire anyone who rises and progresses. It’s really close to my heart. If I see young fans on the side of the pool, I try to make sure I talk to them, chat with them because I know what it means to them. I used to be in their place…”
In 2016, she accompanied her mother Jill Horstead, a participant in the Games of Los Angeles in 1984 in swimming, during the nomination of the Canadian Olympic team. She was able to meet Oleksiak, with whom she took a photo.
Five years later, she was the youngest of all the members of the Canadian delegation in Tokyo. His fourth place finish in the 400m freestyle, won by Australia’s Ariarne Titmus ahead of Ledecky, brought back memories of Michael Phelps’ fifth-place finish in the 200m butterfly at the Sydney Games at the age of 15.
A year later, the American broke the world record for the distance. The man who dreamed of “changing the world of swimming” then achieved the unprecedented with his crazy bet of eight gold medals in Beijing in 2008.
“I don’t really have such goals,” McIntosh replied. Obviously I always dreamed of getting a world record, probably more so when I was younger. Now it’s more like, what can I do on a daily basis that makes me swim as fast as possible? If it’s a world record, it’s a world record, and if it isn’t, it isn’t. »
His range of events seems endless, probably more than Phelps’: front crawl, butterfly, backstroke, medley, middle distance, long distance. We should not be surprised to see her integrate the 4 X 100 m free relay.
Does she have a preference? ” Not really. All events are really important to me. Obviously there are some where I’m better than, say, a 50 breaststroke. I like to keep my race calendar wide open and see how I progress. As I am a medley girl, I train for all four strokes. I think I have the potential to do each individually as well. »
McIntosh’s rise is all the more remarkable as she evolved under four coaches in a short time.
In 2020, the sudden death of her first coach Kevin Thorburn, in Etobicoke, led her to the Toronto high performance center run by Ben Titley, Oleksiak’s mentor. To everyone’s surprise, the Briton’s contract was not renewed last year by Swimming Canada. Montreal-born Ryan Mallette took over.
First a few weeks in winter 2021-2022, then full-time since the fall, McIntosh has been training with Brent Arckey and the Sarasota Sharks club.
“Several things have changed. I still keep in touch with Ben [who now works in Spain, where Kylie Masse joined him]. Things happen and you kind of have to keep moving forward and focus on the goal of being the best swimmer. »
In West Florida, she evolves in a group of about thirty swimmers, including three other Canadians. Arckey will accompany them to the Canadian Trials for the World Championships, where McIntosh will compete in five events starting Tuesday.
“Everyone on the team made me feel welcome and was a good teammate. Some of my closest friends are on the team. It’s great to be a part of that. »
The only things she misses are her family, her bedroom, and her two cats, Mikey and Riley.
Her father and her mother, who swam for the University of Florida, exchange attendance with their youngest daughter. “Right now they’re both in Japan for my sister,” Summer McIntosh said of her 18-year-old eldest, Brooke.
This one participates in her first World Senior Figure Skating Championships, where she ranks 10th in pairs with her partner Benjamin Mimar after the short program. Canadian vice-champions, the duo won bronze at the Junior Worlds last year.
Brooke is an inspiration to Summer, who also skated: “We grew up together and often in the same sports. We learned from each other as much our love and passion for sports as our competitiveness. I learn so much from her on a daily basis, even today. »
The 5’9″ athlete posted the fourth fastest time ever in the 400m individual medley at a meet in North Carolina in December. The Commonwealth Games gold medalist is just over two seconds off the benchmark set by Hungary’s Katinka Hosszú at the 2016 Olympics. She currently holds six world junior records.
“I try not to focus on records, whatever type, just because it can be some kind of benchmark,” she said. For me, the benchmark is only what I can do for myself and that’s just to keep improving. »
Likewise, she says she has no particular motivation to compete with Ledecky, a 19-time gold medalist at the World Championships.
“I try not to necessarily focus on who I want to beat, because that’s really out of my control. I don’t know what other people are capable of. The only thing I know is what I can do, and that comes from daily training. So I try to focus only on that before the World Championships. »
At next week’s Trials in Toronto, qualification is all but assured for whoever is declared the top seed by a wide margin in each of her five events. Under the circumstances, will she show up at the Toronto Pan Am Sports Center pool fully rested?
“Hmm, I don’t know. I follow the practices of my coaches and I don’t even know what being fully rested means, or how to define it… So I’m just going to go out there and do my best. It is up to her rivals to ponder on this.
Finalist at the last World Championships, Mary-Sophie Harvey achieved her fifth lifetime performance to win silver in the 200m individual medley at the Pro Swim Series in Fort Lauderdale on March 4. Summer McIntosh won the gold with a lead of almost… four seconds.
“Summer is definitely in a class of his own,” conceded Harvey, 23. Competition after competition, she demonstrates that she is the best. It feels good to the older ones – and I include myself in the lot. It forces us to move a little! […] It is really fun to race with her, even if she is two or three seconds ahead! »
With swimming usually only being seen once every four years during the Olympics, Harvey agrees that his compatriot remains a closely guarded secret. “Certainly, but it will no longer be in Paris [in 2024]. »
McIntosh’s potential is limitless, Harvey believes. “She’s still just 16, cuddly!” I think she will achieve whatever she wants. Her mental toughness is something I admire about her and wish I had. Several people outside might distract her, but she’s really good at keeping her focus no matter the situation. She has both feet on the ground, she knows where she is going and does not get carried away. It’s all to his credit. »
