It would be easy, at 18 years old, to let all that spotlight, the headlines, the attention, get to one’s head.
Not Summer McIntosh.
She’s coming off an unforgettable Canadian swimming trials in Victoria that saw her break three world records, and post Canadian records in two other events. Each swim was a personal best for her.
She broke the 400m freestyle, 400m individual medley and 200m individual medley world records. She clocked the third-fastest 800m freestyle time ever and the second-fastest 200m butterfly time ever.
After receiving her gold medal and a stuffed animal at the close of each victory ceremony throughout one of the greatest meets by an individual in history, McIntosh quickly worked her way over to young kids in the stands — she’d first throw her stuffy into the crowd and then give her gold medal away.
That’s right, McIntosh gave all five of her record-setting gold medals away to young kids who were gobsmacked by their sporting hero, and a once-in-a-lifetime keepsake.
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Humble. Kind. Seeing the bigger picture in her moment of excellence.
“Seeing the reaction of the little girls and boys, it’s 10 times better than me keeping them in a memory box,” McIntosh said. “I’m only going to look at that so often. I’d rather give them away and spread the joy. They’re going to cherish it. It’s nice to be able to inspire and celebrate with them. That’s the least I can do.””
It wasn’t all that long ago McIntosh was on the pool deck at the Pan Am Sports Centre taking a photo with Penny Oleksiak, one of Canada’s most decorated Olympians, as Oleksiak got ready to go to the Rio Olympics and McIntosh dreamed of one day maybe going to a Games herself.
Fast-forward a few years later, Oleksiak has now gone to three Olympics and McIntosh two, and they are both part of a team of 26 swimmers who will represent Canada at the world championships this summer in Singapore.
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Summer McIntosh headlines team headed to world championships | The Ready Room
McIntosh will be the overwhelming favourite to bring home three, four, maybe even five gold medals — she has been very clear she wants to win five gold medals at the L.A. 2028 Olympics, so these world championships begin that pursuit.
There’s a tantalizing showdown between McIntosh and Ledecky brewing in the 800m freestyle event that Ledecky has held the world record for 12 years. McIntosh is closing in on it.
After what she calls the greatest meet to date in her career, McIntosh is being talked about in the same sentence as greats like Michael Phelps and Ledecky; she has a cat named Mikey, after Phelps, and used to put Ledecky quotes on her wall in her room.
Now she’s drawing comparisons to them.
“These past five days have been absolutely wild. This is probably the best meet of my career. It’ll take a few days to process,” she said.
Many are calling her one of the most dominant Canadian athletes in history.
“I can’t digest that at all. I still haven’t really digested the Olympics and being an Olympian. To know that I have so many Canadians supporting me means the absolute world to me. Anytime I get to wear the Canadian flag to try to wear it with pride and make my country proud,” she said.
“We can feel the support and we’ll feel that support in Singapore.”
McIntosh has spent much of this year training in France under the guidance of French Olympic coach Fred Vergnoux. She credits him for a lot of the success she was able to achieve throughout her five events.
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“Fred is the best of the best. I absolutely love him. We have so much fun together. We bonded really, really quickly. He’s pushed me so far and taught me so much,” she said. “He’s a genius when it comes to swimming and I know I can trust him.”
Vergnoux was in Victoria on the pool deck for every history-making second and was quick to provide some perspective at the close of McIntosh’s meet.
“She’s making things totally extraordinary look normal and we need to make sure people know that this is not normal,” Vergnoux said. “Summer is in a different league. I’ve coached a lot of swimmers but I’ve never seen someone like her. She’s unique. She’s very special and so focused and very professional. And she knows what she wants.”
What she wants is to be considered one of the best to ever do it. And she’s fully ready to step into her superpower, more confident than ever.
“I’m not the chaser anymore, I’m the hunted,” she said. “I think I’m at a point where I’m really confident in myself. I wouldn’t say the first world record was a fluke but it was a surprise for sure. I didn’t think I would achieve it but now I know in my training I can push the boundaries of the sport.”
It would have been easy for McIntosh to let off the gas after winning three gold medals last summer in Paris, and then wracking up more gold and world records at the short course world championships in Budapest this past December.
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Penny Oleksiak on learning to love swimming again
But she hasn’t stopped. There’s a burning desire that keeps her going — and some unfinished business too.
“Olympics, the goal was four golds and I didn’t reach that so I was hungry for more and that really kept me motivated heading into this season,” she said.
Remarkably, McIntosh says each one of her record-breaking performances during trials could have been better. She’s rewatched every race, carefully studying the hundredths of second lost here and there.
“The athletes who break world records are pretty self critical and I think that’s what keeps me pushing forward,” she said. “I don’t think there’s such a thing as a perfect race. I haven’t done it yet. The 400m freestyle was close as it gets. I know I can get so much stronger. I think my turns can always be better.”
She’s not only a Canadian superstar, she’s a global powerhouse now. The eyes of the swimming world were entirely fixated on Commonwealth Place each time McIntosh took to the water.
John Atkinson, high-performance director for Swimming Canada, said it continues to be an extraordinary time for swimming in this country.
“She deserves all the credit. We have a superstar athlete and we’ve had news stories run across Canada, national broadcasts repeatedly on the hour, this is groundbreaking for the sport,” he said.
And McIntosh is only getting started. A day after breaking her third world record in five days, she was back in the pool — a double, two training sessions. Relentless. Focused. Always pushing.
Because she knows the kids are watching.
