The comparison with Michael Phelps can begin. Summer McIntosh more than lived up to the excitement that preceded her on day one of the Canadian Swimming Trials in Toronto on Tuesday night.
In her first final, the 16-year-old swimmer set a world record in the 400m freestyle.
In a remarkable display of control, power and speed, the world vice-champion covered the eight lengths in a time of 3 min 56 s 08.
The Etobicoke Ontarian has erased from the shelves the mark held by Olympic gold medalist Ariarne Titmus, who clocked 3:56.40 at the Australian Championships in May 2022.
“Honestly, tonight, I didn’t think the world record was a possibility, but you never know,” she reacted to Swimming Canada’s microphone, catching her breath a few seconds after her feat.
I am so grateful to my coach and everyone who helped me along the way to get to where I am today.
Summer McIntosh
McIntosh was answering questions from Britanny MacLean, whose national record she had broken in the preliminaries of the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
“Whenever you get the chance to compete in one of my local pools, where I trained for two years, and compete in Canada, I always have a little more left to finish my races and make them proud, ”she added before thanking her parents who followed her from the stands.
Usually very contained, the teenager then burst into tears.
“It’s absolutely incredible,” she added in the mixed zone in front of the journalists present. “I am not an emotional person. But I was struck by so many emotions. It’s pure euphoria right now. I am so grateful to everyone who has brought me to this point. »
McIntosh is the daughter of Jill Horstead, a swimmer who represented Canada at the Los Angeles Games in 1984. Her parents had returned from Japan, where her older sister Brooke, 18, finished 11e as a couple with Benjamin Mimar at the World Figure Skating Championships.
The rapprochement with Michael Phelps is not far-fetched. The most decorated Olympic athlete of all time, the American finished fifth in the 200m at the Sydney Games in 2000, when he was only 15 years old.
With his trainer Bob Bowman, he had made the bet to break the world record the following year, which he succeeded.
“It blows my mind”
McIntosh, the youngest member of the entire Canadian delegation at the last Tokyo Games, finished fourth in the 400m final in the summer of 2021. She was 14 at the time. Her coach of the time, Ben Titley, did not bat an eyelid when Phelps’ name was mentioned in a conversation with The Press.
Less than two years later, she is already the fastest of all time in the 400m. Heading into Tuesday night, his personal best was 3:59.32, which had earned him the silver medal behind Titmus at the Commonwealth Games.
PHOTO MICHAEL P. HALL, SUPPLIED BY SWIMMING CANADA
Summer McIntosh in action on Tuesday
In May 2022, Titmus broke the world record of American Katie Ledecky (3:56:46), the best front crawler of all time, whom McIntosh broke in the 200m earlier this month in Fort Lauderdale.
Along with her silver in the 400m, McIntosh also won gold in the 200m butterfly and 400m individual medley as well as bronze in the 4x200m relay.
In interview with The Press Last week, Summer McIntosh didn’t seem obsessed with making history like Phelps. “I don’t really have such goals,” she said.
“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 every day 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. »
McIntosh’s historic performance is all the more stunning as it was achieved while she was swimming alone in the lead. Her closest pursuer, young Ella Jansen, was second over 12 seconds behind. His excellent time of 4 min 8 s 81 allows him to qualify for the World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, next summer.
After a two-year stint at the Toronto High Performance Center, where she performed on Tuesday, McIntosh left to train last fall in Sarasota, Florida. His trainer Brent Arckey accompanies him for the Trials.
Starting in 27:34, McIntosh finished all her 50 meters in under 30 seconds, except for the sixth and seventh, where she went two tenths over. She finished in 29.98.
“Over the past few years, I’ve put my life into it,” said the one who now holds five world junior records. To be the best possible. Realizing something like that was very unexpected. It was never in my dreams to do this tonight or even a few years ago. It blows my mind. »
Mary-Sophie Harvey started the Trials by placing sixth in the 200m breaststroke with a personal best of 2 min 27 s 67. The finalist of the last World Championships in Budapest is mainly aiming for the 200 m individual medley disputed on Thursday. She will line up in the 100m butterfly on Wednesday, like her teammate Katerine Savard, seeded second behind Olympic champion Maggie Mac Neil. Loïc Courville Fortin of CAMO was sixth in the 100 backstroke after setting a personal best in the preliminaries.