Summer is coming. The sentence in question will be repeated several times as the swimming championships approach.
The spotlight is on a teenage sensation Summer McIntosh. The 16-year-old Canadian proved at the latest last week at his country’s championships in Toronto that he has all the conditions to rise even Michael Phelps into a real megastar.
The Canadian long track championships were one of McIntosh’s fireworks. McIntosh opened with his first adult world record when he broke Australia’s 3:56.08 Ariarne Titmus with 32 hundredths of the ME time of the former 400 meter freestyle swimming in the name.
At the age of 16, he became the youngest swimmer to set a world record in more than ten years.
And once the ME game was unlocked, it wasn’t left there. In the 400m medley, McIntosh crushed Hungary Katinka Hosszún almost seven years old ME time 4:26.36 with a time of 4:25.87.
At the same time, the Canadian Comet made unique swimming history. He became the first ever swimmer to simultaneously hold both the 400m freestyle and 400m individual medley ME times.
McIntosh’s wild record week was completed by junior ME times in the 200m individual medley (2.06.89), 200m butterfly (2.04.70) and 200m freestyle (1.53.91).
Speculating on McIntosh’s future is a popular topic in swimming circles. At next year’s Paris Olympics, McIntosh will be only 17 years old.
There are differences in the athletes’ development curve, but for the sake of comparison, the winner of a record eight Olympic golds at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games Michael Phelps was 23 years old at the time.
– The absurdity of this discussion is that when there are 2028 Olympics, he (McIntosh) will then only be 21 years old. In principle, his prime will likely fall on the 2032 Olympics, Urheilu’s expert Ville Kallinen evaluate.
The coach’s death and father’s cancer
McIntosh has long had a reputation for super talent. The general public got a glimpse of him for the first time in 2021, when he competed in the Tokyo Olympics at just 14 years old. McIntosh immediately flashed his potential after placing fourth in the 400-meter freestyle.
Last year, McIntosh took the next leap in his career. At the long course World Championships in Budapest, he won gold in the 200-meter butterfly and 400-meter medley. The 15-year-old athlete won four medals in one go.
McIntosh has a lot of factors behind him that favor a successful sports career. His mother Jill Horstead is a former elite swimmer who competed in the 1984 Olympics.
McIntosh’s older sister Brooke McIntosh is also a top athlete. The figure skater competed in the recently held World Championships in pair skating.
– Father also understands top sports. There, the background factors are in order.
McIntosh has also had talent in many other sports. She has competed in soccer, gymnastics, figure skating and horse riding.
In terms of development, the coaching environment has also had a big impact. Coach Kevin Thorburn knew what kind of top talent it was and knew how to take it forward. McIntosh currently practices in Florida by Brent Arckey in coaching.
Thorburn passed away three years ago at the age of 63. McIntosh’s path towards the first Olympics of his career was also tinged with dramatic things, when his father With Greg diagnosed with cancer at the beginning of 2021.
The story had a happy ending, as Greg overcame cancer and got to witness his daughter’s Olympic debut.
– He works hard. It’s great to see him getting rewarded for his hard work. He deserves this, a moved Greg commented to the Canadian for CBC (you switch to another service) his daughter’s Olympic place.
Exceptional ability
There have been successful teenage stars in swimming before, but according to Kalline, McIntosh is a completely exceptional case.
On the women’s side, the best-known multiple prize race winner is the USA, which dominates long free distances Katie Ledecky. At the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, he celebrated four gold medals, three of which were individual.
Kallinen says that Ledecky has at best 3-4 such personal trips where he can swim for an Olympic victory. Swedish female swimmers who excelled in the last ten years With Sarah Sjöström and Hosszú has had 2–3 such trips.
16-year-old McIntosh, on the other hand, is already a gold candidate with five personal Olympic trips. According to Kallinen, McIntosh can also swim for Olympic gold in the 200-meter backstroke, which he did not swim at the Canadian championships.
Phelps was able to win five individual Olympic golds in Beijing. On the women’s side, no swimmer has been able to win five gold medals in one Olympics.
If there are no major setbacks, McIntosh has a chance to achieve five personal Olympic golds already in Paris.
– If the performances are like that, he doesn’t even have to do key performances to win the Olympic gold in them. She is such a female reference for Michael Phelps, says Kallinen.
According to Kallinen, McIntosh’s clear strength is that he has three extremely strong sports. He excels in both freestyle, butterfly and backstroke. Only breaststroke has clear challenges.
Physiologically, McIntosh is an athlete who can take hard training.
– According to my understanding, he is worked on in Florida through really hard sets containing lactic acid. We swim a lot of race-paced 200-meter strokes. The goal is that he can withstand a high amount of lactic acid. Maybe that’s why he has the conditions to swim so hard, Kallinen sees.
As a destroyer of scary times?
Before the Paris Olympics, McIntosh’s intermediate goal is the World Long Course Championships held in Fukuoka, Japan this summer. In the 400-meter freestyle, you can expect a thrilling drama between McIntosh, Ledecky and Titmus.
There are no challengers in sight for McIntosh in the 400m and 200m medley. According to Kallinen, 6–7 medals in Fukoka is realistic for McIntosh.
In addition to several Olympic victories and world championships, more world records can be expected from McIntosh in the future. The most sensational world record in the distances McIntosh has swum is China’s Zige Liu in 2009 he swam the ME time of 2.01.81 in the 200-meter butterfly. The Canadian’s record is about three seconds slower.
The ME in question is from the so-called rubber suit era, when world records were manufactured with a buckle. From the same year is still valid in Italy by Federica Pellegrini 200 meter freestyle ME 1.52.98. It could very well be the next trip that McIntosh records under his own name.
– The 200-meter butterfly ME is restless with a capital L. I don’t think McIntosh has enough for that this summer yet. But if the development continues like this, he is definitely the type of athlete who can break it.