2023 Swammy Awards: Female World Junior Swimmer of the Year – Summer McIntosh

See all of our 2023 Swammy Awards here.

FEMALE WORLD JUNIOR SWIMMER OF THE YEAR: SUMMER MCINTOSH, CANADA

Rinse, repeat.

For the second straight time, Summer McIntosh is the runaway winner of the Swammy Award for Female World Junior Swimmer of the Year, having set multiple world records and defended two world titles.

The 17-year-old had arguably the best single-meet performance of any swimmer during 2023 at the Canadian World Trials in late March, setting new world records in the women’s 400 free (3:56.08) and 400 IM (4:25.87) while adding World Junior and Canadian Records in the 200 free (1:53.91), 200 fly (2:04.70) and 200 IM (2:06.89).

Earlier in March, she set World Junior Records in the 200 free and 200 fly at the Pro Swim Series stop in Fort Lauderdale, and in the former, she handed Katie Ledecky her first loss in a freestyle race 200 meters and over on U.S. soil since 2014.

At the 2023 World Championships, McIntosh rebounded from missing the podium in the 400 free by defending her world titles in the 200 fly (2:04.06) and 400 IM (4:27.11), re-lowering her World Junior Record in the former and setting a new World Championship Record in the latter.

The Toronto native also reset the World Junior Record yet again in the 200 free (1:53.65), winning bronze, and won an additional bronze medal in the women’s 400 medley relay.

Below, find McIntosh’s personal best times at the end of last year compared to what she managed to produce this year. She held the World Junior Record in four of the five events listed below at the end of 2022, with the only one she claimed for the first time in 2023 being the 400 free.

McIntosh finishes off the year ranking inside the world’s top 10 in seven different events, and is also in the top 40 in two others and 55th in the 100 free.

Read more on McIntosh’s standout year here.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

• Katie Grimes, USA: After securing a pair of silver medals at the 2022 World Championships in Budapest, Grimes picked up one silver and one bronze in Fukuoka, with the latter coming in an open water event after both of her medals were won in the pool last year. The 17-year-old became the first American athlete to qualify for the Paris Olympics when she claimed bronze in the women’s 10km event at the 2023 Worlds, doing so one week before the pool competition got underway in Fukuoka. Perhaps swimming under a bit of fatigue, Grimes fell to eighth place in the women’s 1500 free (16:04.70), well shy of her lifetime best (15:44.89) and even season-best time (15:56.27). However, she bounced back in the 400 IM, repeating as the silver medalist behind Summer McIntosh in 4:31.41, setting a new U.S. 17-18 National Age Group Record. In addition to ranking #2 in the world for 2023 in the 400 IM, Grimes also ranked inside the world’s top 50 in seven other events: 1500 free (#7), 400 free (#11), 800 free (#11), 200 back (#13), 200 fly (#27), 200 free (#37) and 200 fly (#43).
• Eneli Jefimova, Estonia: While McIntosh and Grimes only raced at the World Championships internationally in 2023, Jefimova was extremely active with appearances at senior Worlds and Short Course Euros in addition to World Juniors and Euro Juniors. The Estonian native won medals at three of the four meets, only missing out at the World Championships, but the highlight has to be her SC European title in the 100 breast, winning the event earlier this month in Otopeni in a time of 1:03.21. The 16-year-old was also the silver medalist at SC Euros in the 50 breast, and secured a full set of medals in the breaststroke events at World Juniors, claiming gold in the 50, silver in the 100 and bronze in the 200. At the European Juniors, she defended her titles in the 50 and 100 breast and was the runner-up in the 200. At the World Championships in Fukuoka, Jefimova was a two-time finalist, placing sixth in the 100 breast and eighth in the 50 breast. Her fastest time of the year in the 100 breast, 1:06.18 done in the Worlds semis, tied for 12th in the world in 2023.
• Lana Pudar, Bosnia and Herzegovina: Like Jefimova, Pudar competed at all four international championship meets available to her, combining for seven medals across SC Euros, World Juniors and Euro Juniors, adding a fourth-place finish at the World Championships to her impressive 2023 resume. The 17-year-old Bosnian swept the girls’ butterfly events at Euro Juniors, setting new Championship and National Records of 56.95 in the 100 fly and 2:06.26 in the 200 fly. She also won double gold at World Juniors in the 100 and 200 fly while taking silver in the 50, and at Short Course Euros earlier this month, she won bronze in the 200 fly and placed sixth in the 100 fly. At the World Championships in Fukuoka, Pudar finished fourth in the 200 fly final after leading the field out of the semis (2:06.62), and added a 10th-place showing in the 100 fly. She closes out the year ranked #5 in the world in the 200 fly and #10 in the 100 fly.

PREVIOUS WINNERS:

• 2022 – Summer McIntosh, Canada
• 2021 – Lydia Jacoby, USA
• 2020 – Benedetta Pilato, Italy
• 2019 – Regan Smith, United States
• 2018 – Taylor Ruck, Canada
• 2017 – Rikako Ikee, Japan
• 2016 – Penny Oleksiak, Canada
• 2015 – Viktoria Gunes, Turkey
• 2014 – Daria Ustinova, Russia