Summer McIntosh, Leon Marchand named World Aquatics Swimmers of the Year

Canada’s Summer McIntosh and France’s Léon Marchand had been named World Aquatics Female and Male Swimmer of the Year for a second consecutive yr.

McIntosh, a 19-year-old from Toronto, had arguably the very best world championships ever for a feminine swimmer — 4 gold medals and one bronze in Singapore over the summer season.

She grew to become the second girl to win 4 particular person golds at a single worlds — sweeping the 200m and 400m particular person medleys, the 400m freestyle and 200m butterfly. She tacked on an 800m free bronze behind American Katie Ledecky (who received 4 particular person golds on the 2015 Worlds) and Australian Lani Pallister.

“I think it was very obvious that my goal was five golds,” McIntosh, who painted 5 of her fingernails gold earlier than the meet, stated after her final swim in Singapore, in keeping with World Aquatics. “Time just didn’t matter. I just wanted to get my hand on the wall the first five times.

“I fell short of that, but I think it’s just going to keep me hungry … Even if I were to get five golds, I would still want more. That’s just my mentality.”

Marchand, a 23-year-old from Toulouse, adopted his four-gold-medal efficiency on the Paris Olympics by sweeping the 200m and 400m IMs at worlds for a 3rd time.

He additionally broke Ryan Lochte’s world document within the 200m IM to grow to be the second man within the final 30 years to carry each IM world data after Michael Phelps.

After worlds, McIntosh moved to Austin, Texas, to hitch Marchand’s coaching group below coach Bob Bowman.

The main worldwide meets in summer season 2026 are the European Championships in Paris and, for non-European swimmers, the Pan Pacific Championships in Irvine, California.