Summer McIntosh sizzles at Florida meet with pair of freestyle victories

For as dominant as Canadian swimming celebrity Summer McIntosh has been the final variety of years, there’s no signal of complacency or let up from the 19-year-old from Toronto.

In reality, she says she’s persevering with to study from every race and making an attempt to push herself tougher than ever throughout coaching as the following Olympics come into focus. 

The pursuit of placing all of the puzzle items collectively within the pool continued this week on the Fort Lauderdale Open with a stacked area of rivals assembled in Florida. McIntosh posted two spectacular victories on back-to-back nights starting Thursday within the 400-metre freestyle.

In what was the marquee race of that night, McIntosh discovered herself locked in a spectacular battle with American legend Katie Ledecky.

The two swimming powerhouses went stroke-for-stroke all through a lot of the race. Just when it appeared McIntosh would draw back, Ledecky surged and reeled the Canadian again in. 

As each fought doggedly within the ultimate 50 metres, it was McIntosh who had extra left within the tank, stopping the clock in 3:58.91.

Her time is the quickest on the earth this calendar 12 months. McIntosh is the world file holder within the occasion in 3:54.18.

After the race, McIntosh wasn’t overly happy together with her time however was blissful to the touch the wall first.

“It was a great race. It’s always good getting those close quarter reps in. Again, my time wasn’t where I wanted it to be but I felt strong. After the race I wasn’t as laboured as I had hoped,” she mentioned. 

“I felt like I could have kept going. I waited too long. All good learning experiences.”

‘More within the tank’

Coach Bob Bowman, who’s main a jaw-dropping group of gifted swimmers together with McIntosh on the University of Texas in Austin, was proud of McIntosh’s effort.

“I just think she had more in the tank there. I thought that was a really solid swim. I’m very happy with it. I just think summer was swimming to win the race instead of to swim the best time she could swim,” Bowman mentioned. 

“Which is OK, but sometimes that holds you back from seeing what’s really in there. I think there’s more in there.”

The two have been working collectively since final fall, making an attempt to place collectively an entire five-event program that they hope will culminate in 5 gold medals on the L.A. 2028 Olympics. Bowman famously guided Michael Phelps to probably the most Olympic gold medals in historical past and now needs to assist McIntosh attain the very best ranges of the game.

On Friday, McIntosh cruised to a comparatively straightforward victory within the 200m freestyle. This is an occasion that she is beginning to reintroduce into her program.

With the wind swirling round and the solar beating down on the open-air pool throughout from the Fort Lauderdale seaside, McIntosh powered her manner by way of the water to cease the clock in a time of 1:54.36. The second-place finisher, Anna Moesch, was greater than two seconds behind McIntosh. 

Again, the Canadian wasn’t overly happy together with her time. 

“I was a bit disappointed with my time. I felt a lot better than I did this morning in the water, which seems to be the theme. I love racing in this pool. It’s a great vibe. I just thought I’d be a bit stronger,” she mentioned.

McIntosh jumped out of the pool and went instantly to Bowman to debrief the race.

“He was thrilled with the time and the race. We’re just focusing on my turns. We are in deep training right now so that’s something to take into account. The 200 free is something I’m reintroducing to my lineup so it’ll be a little bit of a work in progress.”

Bowman echoed McIntosh’s feedback, particularly regarding her turns.

“I said it’s a pretty good race. She’s not happy with the time. She’s never happy with the time, which is OK. But in context the training we’ve been doing is quite good, much better than the 400 in quality, I think,” he mentioned.  

“We mainly talked about her turns which are still holding her back in that race, so she’s got to improve the technique of her turn. She kind of hesitates in the middle of the turn, which is not a good thing.”

McIntosh closed out the meet Saturday night by competing within the 200m breaststroke, an occasion she doesn’t usually compete in however that she needed to make use of an opportunity to assist together with her approach to enhance her particular person medley occasions. 

She completed sixth in a time of two:29.92.

Big summer season forward

McIntosh will head to the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., within the coming weeks for altitude coaching earlier than the Canadian trials going down in Montreal initially of July. This will all result in her competing on the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in Irvine, Calif., in August. 

Swimming Canada excessive efficiency director John Atkinson says the Canadian star is completely positioned going into a giant summer season of swimming. 

“Knowing the work Summer has been doing coming into this competition and working through still building the base for later this year, the results have been really solid,” Atkinson mentioned.

“From an overall Swimming Canada perspective we are really excited to be in Montreal for our Pan Pacific Championships trials in July and an exciting summer of racing with a team in Glasgow for Commonwealth Games and then into LA for Pan Pacs, and the Junior Pan Pacs in Vancouver.”

Liendo finishes 2nd behind Kharun 

Fellow Canadian swimmer Josh Liendo, who’s coming off a scintillating end to his NCAA caree which noticed him efficiently defend his 100-yard title for 4 consecutive years, completed the Fort Lauderdale Open on Saturday night. 

Liendo was second within the 100m butterfly simply behind former Canadian teammate Ilya Kharun. Kharun not too long ago transferred to compete for the USA. Liendo posted a time of 51.17, simply behind Kharun who received the race in 50.87.

About half-hour after that Liendo was again within the pool to compete within the 50m freestyle, ending fifth in a time of twenty-two.39.

American Walsh improves personal 100m fly world mark

Gretchen Walsh bettered her personal 100m butterfly world file for the third time ‌in a 12 months, touching the wall in 54.33 at ​the identical occasion the place she turned ​the primary lady to breach the 55-second mark.

The ​American world champion now owns ⁠the 13 ⁠quickest ‌occasions within the occasion’s historical past.

“Must be magic or something out here … let’s make this an ⁠annual thing, shall we?,” the 23-year-old Walsh posted on Instagram.

Walsh, ‌who narrowly missed out on Olympic gold within the occasion to compatriot Torri ​Huske on the 2024 Paris Games, clocked ⁠54.60 final 12 months to develop into ⁠the primary lady to go ⁠below ⁠the ​55-second mark.

Walsh is over a second faster ​than ⁠the next-fastest lady, Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom, who went 55.48 on the 2016 Olympics in Rio.