14-Year-Old McIntosh May Have Qualified For Tokyo Without Yet Racing At Trials

2021 CANADIAN OLYMPIC SWIMMING TRIALS

The 2021 Canadian Olympic roster has begun to grow past the original 6-strong contingent that was named earlier this year.

During night 1 of the 2021 Canadian Olympic Trials, Canada likely gained 4 new Olympians for Tokyo in the form of Katerine Savard, Josh Liendo, Cole Pratt, and Summer McIntosh.

2021 Canadian Olympic Roster Through Day 1

Note: This is a presumptive list based on results from the 2021 Canadian Olympic Trials and has not yet been made official by Swimming Canada

Canadian Olympic Swimming Roster 2021 (Pre-Trials):

While there was plenty of fast racing in the pool, one of the biggest storylines of night 1 came from a swim that occurred a few weeks ago. 14-year-old Summer McIntosh swam a 4:05.13 on May 27, 2021, which was a major PB and a new Canadian Age Group Record.

The reason that it is important now is that in the absence of any FINA A cuts in the women’s 400 free final, Swimming Canada now has the discretion to name McIntosh to the team based on her result from a few weeks ago.

Swimming Canada Selection Criteria:

“Priority 5 – Where an event has no nominated swimmers or only one nominated swimmer from Priority 1, Priority 2 and Priority 3, swimmers who have achieved the Olympic Qualifying Time (OQT ‘A’) (appendix A) at FINA Approved Olympic Qualification Events between 1 st March 2019 to 23rd June 2021 will be ranked and will be nominated in rank order up to a maximum of two swimmers per event per gender-inclusive of the swimmers who were nominated under Priority 1, Priority 2 and Priority 3. Prior to nomination, all potential nominees from Priority 5 will undergo a review for Competitive Readiness.”

Alyson Ackman won the women’s 400 free in Toronto but fell short of the 4:07.90 FINA A, hitting a 4:10.92. Emily Overholt and Emma O’Croinin were also a little bit over the cut with their swims of 4:11.91 and 4:12.10.

It’s important to note that while the criteria allow for her selection, McIntosh has not been officially selected to race the 400 freestyle at the Tokyo Olympics.

Starting things off in the women’s 100 butterfly, Savard swam to a 2nd place finish behind pre-selected world champion Maggie MacNeil. MacNeil was a 56.19 for the win while Savard followed with a 57.86 to get under the FINA A standard of 57.92. This will be Savard’s 3rd Olympic team, having represented Canada in 2012 and 2016.

After that, Josh Liendo swam under the men’s 100 fly FINA A cut of 51.96 with a 51.72 to pick up the national title and book his ticket to Tokyo. Liendo was actually faster during the prelims when he posted a blistering 51.40 to take out Santo Condorelli‘s former Canadian record of 51.83 from 2016.

Between the men’s and women’s 100 backstroke, Cole Pratt was the only top 2 finisher who had not yet made the team. His 53.54 2nd place finish in the event was under the 53.85 FINA A and allowed him to join fellow backstroker Markus Thormeyer, who was a 53.40 here, in Tokyo.

Thormeyer was pre-selected for the team in the 200 backstroke but his 100 backstroke victory means that he now has at least 2 individual events in his Tokyo program.

In the women’s 100 backstroke, Kylie Masse swam an incredible 57.70 Canadian record to become the 3rd fastest swimmer in history. Masse already had a spot on the team for the event but this swim should give her a confidence boost heading into Tokyo where she will face a lethal field including world record holder Kaylee McKeown (57.45) and former world record holder Regan Smith (57.57). Notably, Masse is also a former world record holder herself, having hit a 58.10 WR back in 2017.

Taylor Ruck added to her 100 freestyle pre-selection by swimming a 59.60 for second in the 100 backstroke, giving her 2 individual events in Tokyo so far.

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SwimFan NU
2 years ago

Should we be worried about Ruck or is it too soon

Hswimmer
Reply to  SwimFan NU
2 years ago

She got under the A time and second in 100 back shouldn’t she get the spot or no?

Troyy
Reply to  Hswimmer
2 years ago

They mean worried about her form rather than qualifying in the 100 back which is a given. She’s 1 second off her PB.

MTK
Reply to  SwimFan NU
2 years ago

Hard to say. She completely failed at 2016 trials, yet she was nominated for relay-only and was brilliant at the Olympics. Here, she’s at least pre-qualified 100fr, and seems to have locked in 100bk tonight. The big question is, will she qualify in 200fr? Penny already has a spot pre-qualified, so that leaves just one spot. It would be a bummer for a past 1:54 swimmer to not race the event at the Olympics.

Canadaman11
Reply to  MTK
2 years ago

I hate to say it but I don’t think she’s qualifying in the 200m free. I’d give the 2nd spot to Sanchez, or, crazy thought, McIntosh, or even crazier thought, Savard.

ScovaNotiaSwimmer
Reply to  MTK
2 years ago

I think the subject of this article might be Ruck’s biggest impediment to that second 200 fr berth. Possibly Sanchez if she’s had enough training post-shoulder surgery for a big 200. I’ve got a soft spot for Overholt but she seems off-form :/

canadaman11
Reply to  SwimFan NU
2 years ago

I’ll use this thread to post, but I’m sure Swimswam will have an article about this soon…. It looks like Ruck is absolutely not on form this year. She just finished 12th in the 200m free prelims with a time over 2min. I haven’t seen the race. Our relay medal chances are in serious jeopardy.

TheJudga
2 years ago

Found Summer’s 4:05 on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-bVYNJ0AvM

Looked pretty effortless. I think she has another big drop in time coming.

Justin
Reply to  TheJudga
2 years ago

Agreed. I can see her in the finals in the distance events.

nuotofan
Reply to  TheJudga
2 years ago

Just a question: the clock on the screen gave 4.05.46 as McIntosh’ final time. It was then corrected in 4.05.13?