Summer McIntosh, one of the most diverse and dominant talents in the world of swimming today, has said that she now has her eyes set on the Canadian Trials and Pan Pacs, both of which are at least two months away, with plenty of training on the horizon in the meantime.
McIntosh is coming off two wins at the Ft Lauderdale Open, including a thriller with her American rival Katie Ledecky in the 400 free, which came down to the closing strokes, as McIntosh reaffirmed her status as the fastest performer in the world in the event. But from here on out, her focus lies in the Canadian Trials in July and Pan Pacs in August.
“It’s a long summer, Pan Pacs isn’t until mid-August, so we’ve got a lot more training blocks until then,” McIntosh said in an interview with World Aquatics. “We’re going back up to the OTC in a couple weeks, so that’ll be lots of hard training and lots of fun, so just in deep training and going to continue to be in that until August.”
McIntosh detailed her 200 free race in Florida, in which she won, touching in 1:54.36, more than two seconds faster than the rest of the championship final field, but seemed, in a way, unsatisfied with her performance.
“I was a bit disappointed with my time… I love racing in this pool, it’s a great vibe, but I don’t know, I just thought I would be a bit stronger coming off Westmont, going at 1:53.8, I was hoping to be around that again.”
McIntosh’s 1:53.80 from Westmont still ranks her as the 2nd-fastest performer in the world this season, only behind Australian Mollie O’Callaghan in 1:53.52.
Her coach, Bob Bowman, had the opposite feeling about her 200 free, seeming rather excited about the performance as a good launching pad for the upcoming training months.
“He was thrilled with the time and the race, we’re just kind of focusing on my turns more so, but of course I said I wasn’t as happy with it, but we are in deep training right now, so that’s something to take into account of course,” McIntosh said. “But, 200 freestyle is an event that I’m reintroducing to my lineup, so it’s something that’s going to be a little bit of a work in progress for sure.”
Her 400 free with Ledecky came down to the final strokes, as the two titans were breathing right with one another on the closing 50 meters, with the Canadian narrowly edging out Ledecky at the final touch, winning 3:58.91 to Ledecky’s. 3:59.02.
“It was a great race, and it’s always good getting those close-quarter racing reps in, but again, my time wasn’t where I wanted it to be. I felt pretty strong, and after the race I wasn’t as labored as I hoped, I felt like I could have kept going, sort of thing, so I waited too long to really add in my legs and things like that.”
She mentioned her excitement for the Canadian Trials this summer, a meet she has historically dominated and where she has set all-time world records, posting career bests in the 400 free (3:54.18), 800 free (8:05.07), 200 IM (2:05.70), and 400 IM (4:23.65). The 400 free, 200 IM, and 400 IM all stand as current World Records that McIntosh set last summer.
“I’m so excited and trials is always one of my best meets in my swim season, so I’m really excited,” McIntosh added. “I’ve never swum in this pool before, so this will be new and also be kind of coming off OTC, so it’ll be a good little bump to have heading into trials.”
