World Aquatics Championships 2023: Summer McIntosh reflects on 'unbelievable' progress as she aims for more world titles - and beyond
The 16-year-old Canadian swimmer already has world titles and world records to her name. But she's only just getting started.
Swimming
It was only a few years ago, Summer McIntosh says, that she was still putting Katie Ledecky swimming posters up on her bedroom wall. And pulling inspirational quotes from Ledecky interviews she found online.
Now, the 16-year-old Canadian is one of the Olympic legend's chief rivals in the pool - and recently broke a world record Ledecky used to own herself.
"To now be racing against her and trying to keep up with her is honestly just an honour," said a humble McIntosh in an Olympics.com interview. "And every time I get to do it, I am truly very appreciative of it."
It's not always that generations can cross paths at the top level of their respective sport, but with a decade between Ledecky, 26, and McIntosh, fans will see that play out further at the World Aquatics Championships this month in Fukuoka, Japan, and - we suspect - at next year's Olympic Summer Games Paris 2024.
"Every time I race against her I learn so much about swimming and the race," McIntosh said. "It's a little bit unbelievable to think that I am racing against her and having those opportunities because to think back to only a few years ago, I never would have thought it would be now."
Summer McIntosh: On fire in the pool
McIntosh made international headlines when she qualified for Tokyo 2020 in 2021 and became Canada's youngest Olympian in any sport since 1976.
She would make the 400m freestyle final in Tokyo, the race that famously featured Australian Ariarne Titmus surging back to win gold over Ledecky, handing the seven-time Olympic champion her first individual loss in a race at the Games.
Both Ledecky and Titmus have owned the world record in the 400m freestyle, but earlier this year it was McIntosh who claimed it for herself, swimming to a 3:56.08 at Canadian Trials.
It's been a year of noted improvement for McIntosh, who also set a world record in the 400m individual medley at that same meet. The in-pool results have affirmed a big move by McIntosh in October 2022, when she relocated her training facility to the Sarasota (Florida) Sharks and coach Brent Arckey.
"I couldn't be happier with my decision," McIntosh reflected after several months there. It's great there. Obviously, there's always room for improvement, but I'm pretty happy with where I am."
The challenge this Worlds will not only be in each of her four individual races and to-be-determined relays, but also the meet as a whole: Fukuoka will serve in part as a testing ground for how McIntosh can manage the stress of a major international meet as a contender across several disciplines prior to next year's Olympics.
Katie Ledecky (L) and Summer McIntosh react after competing in the Women's 400m Freestyle Final during the Toyota U.S. Open Championships at Greensboro Aquatic Center on December 01, 2022 in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Olympic-minded: From Tokyo to Paris
The seismic shift in McIntosh's ability since Tokyo 2020 has been noted in her results - and beyond. She captured two world titles last year, winning both the 200m butterfly and 400m IM, and is among the favourites in each of her four events this year.
She feels the growth she has had as an athlete, even as things have happened quickly around her.
"To think back to the [Tokyo] Olympics, it feels like yesterday, but also so long ago because since then I've experienced so much and learned from it," she said. "Every time I go to a major competition internationally there's so much to learn and just to see how other athletes on the world level conduct themselves on the pool deck."
McIntosh says she is learning better how to taper and recover properly both within meets and from one to the next, while also better understanding the mental demands which accompany the physical.
"I think being able to manage mentally and physically during a competition is also something that has been a balance to find," she said, adding: "Like especially for a nine-day meet."
McIntosh is especially aware of that for Paris 2024.
"Paris is going to be, if I make the team, very exhausting. So that's not just physically but also mentally - and that's something that is probably the hardest thing to learn and manage."
The McIntoshes: A family of athletes
McIntosh's older sister Brooke is an emerging pairs figure skater for Canada, having spent her first full season at the senior level this last year with partner Benjamin Mimar.
The sisters' mother, Jill Horstead, swam at Los Angeles 1984, racing in the 200m butterfly. Forty years later, her daughter could become Olympic champion in the event.
"I think from a very young age, I understood what a big deal it is to make an Olympic team since my mom did it," Summer reflected. "To do it in the same sport [as her] was obviously very special to me. But I think just growing up really appreciating what sports has to offer and the opportunities that comes with it is something that's really special and our family has always had."
With Paris 2024 looming, McIntosh remains steadily focused on the steps that come before it. And also understands the uncontrollables are just that: Out of her control.
"I don't really know what the future holds this next year [and] the Olympics," she said. "I'm hoping for the best and I'm focusing on each individual day, training day and just focusing on what I can do to improve in this moment. That's all I can really control and do."
Spoken like a true veteran at 16.