McIntosh Hauls High Five Of Victories With 2:07 Flat 200IM In Tight Curtain-Closing Clash With Pickrem At Her Best 0.6 Away
Summer McIntosh rattled her own national 200m medley record to complete a stellar seven days at Canadian Trials with a 2:07.06 victory in a terrific clash with Sydney Pickrem, who emerged from the fight sporting anew career best of 2:07.68.
And just for good measure, Canada now boasts its first sub-2:10 domestic 200IM podium, Mary-Sophie Harvey third in a lifetime best by 0.08sec, on 2:09.57.
Battle was keen in a curtain-closing final that led to an announcement that 29 swimmers will represent Canada at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris (see announcement and list of swimmers and staff in full below).
McIntosh set the pace on butterfly and established a solid lead on backstroke for a 1.53sec lead at half-way. The dynamics then tilted in Pickrem’s favour, her part-of-medley-sum forte breaststroke: the quarry in her sights at first breath off the wall, Pickrem not only chased the lead pace but overhauled it with a 36.29 split to a 38.16 from McIntosh.
The teenager’s talents mean she gets at least three summers in every medley race: herself, ‘fly and freestyle. Down the last length of the race and the trials, a curtain-closing 30.03sec split settled the argument in favour of the ace with five solo podium targets in prospect for Paris.
McIntosh emerged from her fifth ticket to Paris to say: “I’m pretty happy with it. It was a little bit rusty on some of my technique, but that means there’s just more room for improvement in that event. I think the more I swim that, the more I learn and kind of have more experience in it, because it’s more like a new event for me.”
She added: “I’m pretty happy to be able to qualify in five of my top events. I’m going to Paris, I’m super excited, I think it’s going to be an amazing meet, not just for me, but for all of Team Canada.”
McIntosh Vs Pickrem
27.03; 58.87; 1:37.03; 2:07.06 McIntosh
27.64; 60.40; 1:36.69; 2:07.68 Pickrem
The race left Australian Kaylee McKeown top of the 2024 World rankings with her 2:06.99 Australia record from nationals last month.
McIntosh was already third fastest ever in textile, while Pickrem, coached by Jason Calanog at the Toronto Swim Club, rises from 18th to 10th all-time.
Comparisons with the swiftest all-time textile splits:
27.30; 58.94 (31.64) 1:35.64 (36.70) 2:06.12 (30.48) Katinka Hosszu (HUN) 2015
27.23; 58.89 (31.66) 1:35.72 (36.83) 2:06.58 (30.86) Hosszu 2016
27.31; 59.61 (32.30) 1:36.49 (36.88) 2:06.88 (30.39) Siobhan-Marie O’Connor (GBR) 2016 Commonwealth Rec
26.80; 58.63 (31.83) 1:37.26 (38.63) 2:06.89 (29.63) Summer McIntosh (CAN) 2023
27.84; 59.94 (32.10) 1:37.42 (37.48) 2:06.99 (29.57) Kaylee McKeown (AUS) 2024
26.81; 60.04 (33.23) 1:36.84 (36.80) 2:07.05 (30.21) Kate Douglass (USA) 2024
On 2:06.89 a year ago at trials, McIntosh did not race the short medley at World Championships in Fukuoka, where she retained the global crowns in the 200m butterfly and 400m medley.
This week in Toronto, the 17-year-old coached by Brent Arckey and team at the Sarasota Sharks, with Vern Gambetta among the entourage guiding McIntosh, has scored a high five of victories, no quarter given to any rival. Pickrem came closest.
Each of McIntosh’s four triumphs has not only provided a glimpse of the skills and speed she’s capable of but shows the smart prep in the mix, energy management just one of many parts of a process well followed.
Racing in her home town of Toronto this week. McIntosh has delivered prospects for a Paris podium in all five solo events: 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; a 2024 world-ranks topping 2:04.33 in the 200 ‘fly yesterday evening and finally a 200 medley mash with Pickrem that sent the crown home with a spring in its step and hopes in collective Canadian hearts.
In Other finals:
Josh Liendo Soars To 50.06 Commonwealth 100 ‘Fly Mark As No3 All-Time In Textile
Summer Snaps (By Ian MacNicol)
Swimming Canada Reveals Paris 2024 Olympic Swim Team
The following is the announcement from Swimming Canada on its selection of the Canadian team for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games:
TORONTO (May 19, 2024) – Swimming Canada and the Canadian Olympic Committee have announced the roster of Team Canada swimming athletes nominated to compete at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. The athletes are:
Javier Acevedo (Toronto, Ont.)
Sophie Angus (Weston, USA)
Alex Axon (Newmarket, Ont.)
Jeremy Bagshaw (Victoria, B.C.)
Julie Brousseau (Ottawa, Ont.)
Brooklyn Douthwright (Riverview, N.B.)
Emma Finlin (Edmonton, Alta.)
Mary-Sophie Harvey (Trois-Rivieres, Que.)
Apollo Hess (Lethbridge, Alta.)
Patrick Hussey (Beaconsfield, Que.)
Tristan Jankovics (Puslinch, Ont.)
Ella Jansen (Burlington, Ont.)
Ilya Kharun (Montreal, Que.)
Yuri Kisil (Calgary, Alta.)
Finlay Knox (Okotoks, Alta.)
Josh Liendo (Toronto, Ont.)
Margaret (Maggie) Mac Neil (London, Ont.)
Kylie Masse (Lasalle, Ont.)
Summer McIntosh (Toronto, Ont.)
Emma O’Croinin (Edmonton, Alta.)
Penny Oleksiak (Toronto, Ont.)
Sydney Pickrem (Halifax, N.S.)
Regan Rathwell (Ashton, Ont.)
Taylor Ruck (Kelowna, B.C.)
Rebecca Smith (Red Deer, Alta.)
Blake Tierney (Saskatoon, Sask.)
Lorne Wigginton (Calgary, Alta.)
Ingrid Wilm (Calgary, Alta.)
Kelsey Wog (Winnipeg, Man.)
The athletes were selected for Team Canada based on their performances at the 2024 Olympic & Paralympic Swimming Trials, Presented by Bell, that took place May 13 to 19 at the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre. To be nominated in an individual event, swimmers needed to achieve the Olympic Qualifying Time in that event and finish top two at the Trials. Canada has also qualified entries in all seven relay events, so there are several athletes who will be fulfilling their Olympic dreams as members of those squads.
Seventeen-year-old Summer McIntosh is qualified in five individual events and has put herself into consideration for multiple relays. She made her Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020 as the youngest athlete on Team Canada. She has since won more gold medals – four – than any Canadian swimmer ever at the World Aquatics Championships, becoming a back-to-back world champion in the women’s 200m butterfly and 400m individual medley in 2022 and 2023. During this week’s Olympic Trials, McIntosh bettered her own world record in the 400m IM, taking 1.5 seconds off the time she set last year. That time of 4:24.38 is almost two seconds faster than any other woman in the event.
“I’m pretty happy to be able to qualify in my top five events, so going into Paris I’m super excited,” said McIntosh. “I think it’s going to be an amazing meet, and not just for me but for all of Team Canada. I was just watching Josh [Liendo who just swam a Canadian record moments before] and it gave me a lot of motivation.”
Maggie Mac Neil, who won Olympic gold at Tokyo 2020 in the women’s 100m butterfly, will have the chance to defend her title in the event, and will be joined by Mary-Sophie Harvey, who will have the opportunity to compete in her first individual Olympic events after having competed in the 4x200m freestyle relay at Tokyo 2020.
Kylie Masse, a four-time Olympic medallist, will make her third Olympic appearance at Paris 2024, having qualified in the women’s 100m and 200m backstroke events with some of the fastest times in the world this year during the Trials. She’ll be joined in the 100m backstroke by Ingrid Wilm, who will make her Olympic debut as the 2024 World bronze medallist in the event.
“I’m motivated by my teammates, my national team teammates, my coaches. I’m motivated by my competitors in Canada and around the world,” said Masse. “I think every day brings a different motivation, sometimes it’s just motivation to get through the week and other times it’s a bigger motivation. Like anything in life, I think it’s just about continuing to show up and be disciplined in what I do, be disciplined in the skills that I’m working on and trying to perfect every detail.”
“There’s a couple of us now that will have been on a couple of Olympic teams, so to be there with people that have done it before and to be there with fresh excited new faces is also a blessing,” she added. “I hope to just be there for everyone in whatever way I can support them and help their Olympic journey to achieve great performances.”
Canada’s all-time most decorated Olympian, Penny Oleksiak, is headed to her third Olympic Games after some difficult years that have seen her manage multiple injuries, including knee surgery just four months before the Trials. Now 23, Oleksiak has grown so much from the 16-year-old who became the first Canadian athlete to ever win four medals at one Olympic Games during Rio 2016.
While it was members of the women’s team that won Team Canada’s total of 12 Olympic swimming medals from Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020, the Canadian men have continued to improve and aspire to take the next step onto the Olympic podium. Josh Liendo won bronze medals in the men’s 100m butterfly and 100m freestyle at the 2022 World Aquatics Championships. He then upgraded himself to silver in the 100m butterfly at the 2023 Worlds.
This past February, Finlay Knox became the first Canadian man in 17 years to win a gold medal at the World Aquatics Championships, after his breakthrough performance in the men’s 200 IM. Both men were part of a fast 100m freestyle final at the Trials, which has boosted hopes for a potential podium in the men’s 4x100m freestyle relay. Liendo and Yuri Kisil, the runner-up in the 100m freestyle at Trials, contributed to a fourth-place finish in that event at Tokyo 2020.
“Last time around in the Olympics, my goal was to try to get into the final, try to make a semi. Now, I’m obviously challenging to be in that final. Once you’re in the final, everyone’s going for a podium, so that’s kind of my mindset right now, I want to be at the top with the best guys,” Liendo said after securing his Olympic spot in the 100m freestyle.
Among the first-time Olympic team members are Tristan Jankovics and Jeremy Bagshaw, at opposite ends of their swimming careers. The 20-year-old Jankovics became the first Canadian to qualify for the men’s 400m IM since London 2012. Bagshaw, who missed the last two Olympic teams by the thinnest of margins, will be a member of the men’s 4x200m freestyle relay just before he retires at the age of 32 to pursue his next career as a doctor.
Additionally, one open water swimmer, Emma Finlin, qualified based on her results in the women’s 10km marathon during the 2024 World Aquatics Championships, held in February in Doha, Qatar. Finlin had originally just missed earning Canada the continental qualifying spot for the Americas, finishing 0.7 seconds behind her closest competitor from the Americas region, but later received the news that she would be awarded the unallocated spot intended for Oceania, which did not have enough competitors to fill its quota.
The Paris-bound squad includes 13 swimmers with previous Olympic experience, as well as six Olympic medallists. Fifteen swimmers on the Paris 2024 Canadian Olympic Team have won medals at World Aquatics Championships, and 13 won medals at the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games this past October.
John Atkinson, High Performance Director of Swimming Canada, said:
“I am very happy with the make-up of the Swimming Canada Olympic team, the Trials have been a great event and the outcome can be seen with the strength of the team announced. There have been world-class performances from many of our athletes across both male and female events, and that is extremely pleasing from the Trials. The team has quality at the world level in many events and now the focus for all our team members is to prepare for improvement and progression from Trials to Games and be ready for 9 days of competition in the pool in Paris.”
John Atkinson
Team Canada has won 55 Olympic swimming medals, second only to athletics for most Olympic medals won by Canadians in a summer sport.
Swimming will take place July 27 to August 4 (Days 1 to 9) at the Paris La Défense Arena while the women’s marathon event will take place on August 8 (Day 13) at the Pont Alexandre III venue.
‘’Congratulations to the Canadian swimmers who earned their ticket for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Their performances throughout Trials this week have offered us several moments of intensity, where concentration, passion, and excellence were in the spotlight. It’s inspiring to see these athletes push themselves and always aim higher,‘’ said Bruny Surin, Team Canada’s Paris 2024 Chef de Mission. ‘’Their potential is undeniable, and I can’t wait to see Team Canada makes waves to get on the podium in Paris.’’
Team Canada’s swimming team for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games also includes the following coaches and support staff:
Coaches
Brent Arckey (Raleigh, USA) – Coach
Greg Arkhurst (Montreal, Que.) – Coach
Vlastimil Cerny (Winnipeg, Man.) – Coach
Dave Johnson (Calgary, Alta.) – Coach
Linda Kiefer (Toronto, Ont.) – Coach
Ryan Mallette (Montreal, Que.) – Head Coach
Mark Perry (Stittsville, Ont.) – Open Water Coach
Scott Talbot (Canberra, Australia) – Coach
Support Staff
John Atkinson (Ottawa, Ont.) – High Performance Director
Meghan Buttle (Toronto, Ont.) – Physiotherapist
Ron Castro (Toronto, Ont.) – Massage Therapist
Jan Hanan (Victoria, B.C.) – Team Manager
Iain McDonald (Montreal, Que.) – Assistant High Performance Director
Suzanne Moroney (Halifax, N.S) – Massage Therapist
Graham Olson (Saskatoon, Sask.) – Performance Analysis
Tom Vandenbogaerde (Vancouver, B.C.) – Performance Scientist
Nathan White (Fredericton, N.B.) – Media Attaché
Prior to being named to Team Canada, all nominations are subject to approval by the Canadian Olympic Committee’s Team Selection Committee following its receipt of nominations by all National Sport Organizations.
The latest Team Canada Paris 2024 roster can be found here.