McIntosh Flyer The Speedy Warm-Up For Knox & Liendo Thrillers At Toronto Trials
After Summer McIntosh set the tone with a global ranks topper 2:04.33 in the 200m butterfly as a double World champion gunning for Olympic gold in Paris this summer, Finlay Knox and Josh Liendo thundered up to the cusp of podium contention at the Games with Canadian records of 1:56.07 and 21.48 respectively in the 200m medley and 50m freestyle on the penultimate day at Canadian Olympic Trials in Toronto.
The crowd got its thrills from the get-go, 17-year-old McInrtosh, coached by Brent Arckey and Vern Gambetta at the Sarasota Sharks, grabbing her fourth solo ticket to Paris a touch shy of the 2:04.06 Commonwealth record she set for the World title last year.
Out in 27.43, she turned in 58.59 at the half-way, 1:31.24 at the last turn and was home 33.09sec later in 2:04.33, the swiftest in the world so far this year, with trials to come in Australia and the United States next month.
McIntosh, the Paris cut of 2:08.43 sent packing before the gun went off, was in a race with herself in an event in which no-one yet can be said to be chasing down the world record, it being the artificially fast 2:01.81, that shiny suits marker with knobs on established by China’s Liu Zige in late 2009 before non-textiles were shown the door and banished from a sport that could have done without the skew of it all.
The podium completed by Mabel Zavaros, 2:11.85, and Breckin Gormley, 2:11.94, McIntosh made the day for the aspiring up-and-comer in the crowd who caught her gold medal and gets to treasure the moment forever.
Each of McIntosh’s four triumphs in her home town of Toronto this week has delivered prospects for a Paris podium, if not a golden shot: 1:53 200 free; a steady as she goes 3:59 400 free on day 1; a scorching 4:24.38 World record and overall performance of the year so far in the 400m medley preceding today’s flying ‘fly.
The 200m medley is all that remains. It is likely to end in a curtain-closing fifth podium shot in Paris. The legendary Australian Shane Gould was just 15 when she set a record at Munich 1972 that still stands to this day: five solo medals in the Olympic pool at a single Games, her feat including three golds in Word record times, a silver and a bronze.
McIntosh has set her sights on her own lane and the skills and speed she’s worked to achieve, the “balance” of a hefty program part of the thrill of the challenge. Speaking through Swimming Canada, she said:
“I try not to focus too much on how fast I go compared to others. When it comes to the Olympic Games, everyone’s going to give that much more, so it’s just important to focus on how I increase the pace. It’s so exciting. In Tokyo, I just did freestyle events, so being able to come back to doing my favourite events, which is more IM along with the freestyle still, is really fun. Just to kind of see how to balance all of it together.”
Knox Tests The 1:56 Mark
The Paris podium may well take a 1:54 for gold and silver and not much more for bronze but crystal balling is for the birds when it comes to the day, the momentum the fight and flight of “Now!”
One thing was certain today: Finlay Knox, 23, is on the tail of the top contenders, his 1:56.07 showing that not even those who excelled in Doha at an intercalated World titles in February had that moment in mind as their season target. Knox’s winning 1:56.64 Canadian record from Doha was confined to second best for him and Canada this evening and the Paris cut of 1:57.94 was dispensed with through this flow:
• 24.52; 53.76; 1:27.57; 1:56.07 – Finlay Knox- May 2024
• Tokyo top 2 comparative splits:
• 24.78 – 53.78; 1:27.63; 1:55.00 (27.37) Wang Shun Gold
• 25.06 – 54.52; 1:27.82; 1:55.28 (27.46) Duncan Scott Silver
Not hard to see that Knox is right up there all the way, ahead at the half-way mark, levels at the last turn … and then we see why that 48.2 in the 100m free at trials this week was not just about the relay berth but part of the need for speed to accompany the stamina and versatility when it comes to the back end of a sprint medley.
Wang heads to Paris the favourite for gold after his Tokyo victory and two 1:54 clockings since, though he swims under a cloud of investigation as one of China’s go-free 23 who tested positive for a banned substance in January 2021 but were declared “no fault” cases never registered as adverse findings, it emerged last month when an alleged mass contamination event came to light and plunged the anti-doping world into schism.
The other favourite is the 2023 World champion and 400IM world record holder, Léon Marchand, to whom all of France looks to warm their hearts and fill their cups at a home Games.
Already on the Maple team for Paris with his win in the 100m breaststroke and third place in the 100 free good for relays, Knox nailed his solo target atop a podium podium rounded off by Tristan Jankovics in 1:59.32 and Lorne Wigginton, on 2:00.90.
Knox, Pan American Games champion in 2023 two years after 17th place in Tokyo2020ne, his Olympic debut, said:
“We’ve been putting a lot of work on that and obviously that’s paying off. One thing I’ve learned this last year is to take every bit of confidence you can get. Celebrate the small wins, celebrate the big wins, and tonight’s a big win. Winning the world title was a big win, and just using it as fuel to the fire and every time I step out now, I know what I’m capable of doing.”
Finlay Knox – photo by Ian MacNicol, courtesy of Swimming Canada
Liendo Leans Into Contention
Just the wrong side of 21.5 is super fast. The right side of it, on 21.48, a Canadian standard that shaved 0.13sec off his 2022 marker, Josh Liendo is podium contention zone in any line-up of dashers: good for silver in Tokyo, good for bronze at Rio 2016. So, in with a shout in Paris this August. The day is everything.
On 21.61 at Budapest 2022 Worlds, Liendo finished fifth 0.04sec shy of the medals, the race won by Britain’s Ben Proud in 21.32. Today in Toronto, Liendo was a class apart, Yuri Kisil second in 22.01, 0.05sec shy of the Paris cut but already on the team for the 100 and 4x100m. Edouard Fullum-Huot took third in 22.14.
Tokyo2020 marked Liendo’s Olympic debut, on which he finished 18th in the dash. He’s much stronger now and soaked in the joy of this day for more reasons than just his own achievement, his 20-year-old sister Sophia having sung the national anthem before finals. Said Liendo:
“It feels good. I’m a lot faster than I was last year at this time, so I’m just happy with it. I just want to keep building from there and see what I can do next. It means a lot. My cousin showed up today, this is my home pool, my mom and dad have been here every night. My sister sang the anthem, so it’s really cool. It’s kind of surreal that it’s all happening, but I’m just happy to be here and happy to have my whole family as part of it.”
Josh Liendo – photo by Ian MacNicol, courtesy of Swimming Canada
In the last Olympic program final of the evening, 18-year-old Julia Strojnowska set a personal best of 8:38.36 to win the 800m.