Global Courant 2023-05-15 05:22:55
A month after breaking two world records and another five junior world records in the national swim trials, Canadian phenom Summer McIntosh was back in race mode this weekend at the Atlanta Classic.
But unlike the trials at the Toronto Pan Am Sports Center in late March and early April, where she stunned the swimming world with her remarkable performance, the focus shifted a bit during this weekend’s event — it was all about meaningful race reps in events she doesn’t normally participate in, but are part of the medleys.
McIntosh’s head coach Brent Arckey explains to CBC Sports that they wanted to improve breast and backstrokes this weekend to improve her individual medleys – McIntosh broke Katinka Hosszú’s seven-year world record in the 400-meter IM on April 1.
“She took a few days to take a deep breath, which was obviously much needed after all that,” Arckey said.
“We went back to work and we’ve been working really hard. There are a few little things that we’ve been working on and we want to see what those look like in a race situation. But we’re really looking for race reps before we go back to a big work block in the run-up to the world championship.”
LOOK | Relive McIntosh’s 400m IM world record poolside with her family in the stands:
Experience Summer McIntosh’s 2nd world record poolside, with her family in the stands
Canada’s Summer McIntosh broke the world record in the 400m IM during the Toronto swim trials, her second world record of the week.
‘She’s good at so many things’
McIntosh had a busy schedule at the Atlanta weekend meeting, which began Friday night. She started with the 100m breaststroke and set a time of 1:10.77, just short of her personal best of 1:10.39.
On the same night, she next competed in the 100-meter butterfly, finishing second in a time of 57.86 – which is a personal best in the event for McIntosh.
“The best thing about Summer is that she’s good at so many things. And because the individual medley is such a focal point now, we’re working on all the different aspects,” said Arckey.
“She’s pretty good in the off events. So for us, it’s continuing to develop the breaststroke and continue to make some progress in certain lengths of the individual medley.”
The Canadian teen continues to train in Sarasota, Florida, with the Sharks club.
“She loves to train and loves to race. And she just enjoys doing all this. I’m just glad we can provide the environment for her to do it,” said Arckey.
LOOK | Swim trials offered a glimpse into Canada’s ‘golden generation of swimming’:
Swim trials offered a glimpse into ‘golden generation of swimming in Canada’
CBC Sports’ Devin Heroux summarizes Canada’s swimming trials, highlighted by Toronto teen Summer McIntosh, who broke 5 records in the pool.
With the clock ticking towards the world championships in Fukuoka, Japan in July, McIntosh is expected to compete in the 200m and 400m individual medley, the 200m and 400m free events and the 200m fly.
It’s a tough program and it will be extremely demanding, especially with the potential of McIntosh also competing in the relays.
Arckey says that’s part of the reason she competed in the 50-yard free on Saturday night in Atlanta, then 100-yard back, then right after that the 200-yard breast, because it’s a tough back-to-back double and valuable for training.
McIntosh finished fourth in the 50-meter freestyle in a time of 25.78, which is her fastest time ever. She followed that up with her first win of the competition in the 100 meters back with a time of 1:00.25, also a personal best.
It was then back in the pool for a third leg of the evening for the 16-year-old, who finished second in the 200m chest in a time of 2:29.64.
American legend Katie Ledecky also competed in the event and posted one of the fastest season swims of her career, stopping the clock in a time of 3:58.84 in the 400-meter freestyle. Ledecky once held the world record in the event.
McIntosh now holds the record by beating Ariarne Titmus’ time about a month ago and stopping the clock in 3:56.08.
LOOK | What McIntosh’s world record swimming in the 400m freestyle looked like poolside:
Relive the moment poolside when Summer McIntosh broke the world record in the 400-meter freestyle
Feel like you’re right next to Summer McIntosh as she breaks her first world record at age 16 in the Canadian National Swimming Trials.
McIntosh is the first swimmer in history to hold both the 400-meter freestyle and 400-meter medley world records at the same time.
Arckey says it’s all about building on what McIntosh did at trials now.
“When you come back from a good meeting, one of the most important things is to take out what was really good and keep doing that, and then find some things that we can do better,” Arckey said.
“This is constantly evolving, especially for a teen. We just keep trying new things and sticking with the things that we know work. Every time we get on the blocks, there are things we’re looking for.”
McIntosh closed out Sunday’s race in Atlanta with a 200-meter backstroke victory, cruising to the wall in a time of 2:07.34. It was just outside her personal best of 2:07.15 and five seconds ahead of second place.
Summer McIntosh cruises to an easy 200m win back at the Atlanta Classic in a time of 2:07.34
Just finished her personal best of 2:07.15
That wraps up the Atlanta Classic for McIntosh. Story is coming. pic.twitter.com/k7bOFIOMI3
At this point, Arckey says he’s not sure if McIntosh will participate in any more pre-world encounters in July.
“Maybe we’ll do something minimal in June. We’ll have a few bigger invite meetings in June and we might just use that for some more race reps. But we didn’t commit much in June. It all depends on where we are and how we’re looking at feeling that moment,” he said.
Family time
A week earlier, McIntosh was able to spend some valuable family time with her mom and dad, Jill and Greg, and her sister Brooke, who is an elite figure skater for Canada on the international stage.
The family attended the F1 race in Miami before playing the Toronto Maple Leafs playoff game against the Florida Panthers at Sunrise.
“They do a great job of keeping it light,” Arkcey said.
“They’re doing a great job making sure she stays a kid and has different life experiences.”
LOOK | Summer and Brooke McIntosh — One Family, Two Rising Sports Stars:
Summer and Brooke McIntosh: one family, two rising sports stars
Summer and Brooke McIntosh are making a name for themselves as some of Canada’s most promising young athletes. Devin Heroux shows the work the sisters put in to be at the top of their respective sports.
Liendo continues strong season
McIntosh wasn’t the only Canadian to make waves at the Atlanta Classic this weekend.
20-year-old Josh Liendo, who is on his way to a breakthrough NCAA season, continued his strong season just over a month after great performances in trials.
On Friday night, in the highly anticipated return of American great Caeleb Dressel, Liendo stole the show by winning the 100m flight ahead of Dressel in a time of 51.79.
Dressel won five gold medals at the Tokyo Olympics. His swim on Friday was his first race after nearly a year away.
Liendo’s performance was the fastest dive of the season.
A day later on Saturday evening, Liendo finished second in the 50m free with a time of 22.50. Liendo closed his competition on Sunday evening with a victory in the 100m free and stopped the clock in a time of 49.19.
McIntosh and Liendo, along with 29 other Canadians, will be on their way to the world championships starting in late July in Fukuoka, Japan.
