In what was a surprise to many, Summer McIntosh, the best female swimmer in the world currently, decided to spend the majority of her 2025 season in Antibes, France. After training with storied coach Fred Vergnoux at a 3-week altitude camp, McIntosh decided to spend the rest of her preparation for Singapore in the south of France with Fred as well. This resulted in the Canadian super star winning 4 gold medals and 1 bronze in Singapore.
Vergnoux, known for guiding Mireia Belmonte to becoming Spain’s first-ever Female to win an Olympic gold medal in swimming at the 2016 Rio Games, discusses at length what the first half of 2025 looked like for his teenage pupil. He also shed light on what makes Summer as great as she is and why she’s been able to enjoy all of the international success she has had in her relatively short career so far.
In the SwimSwam Podcast dive deeper into the sport you love with insider conversations about swimming. Hosted by Coleman Hodges and Gold Medal Mel Stewart, SwimSwam welcomes both the biggest names in swimming that you already know, and rising stars that you need to get to know, as we break down the past, present, and future of aquatic sports.
- Click here to listen and subscribe on Spotify
- Click here to listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts
- Click here to listen and subscribe on Podbean
- Click here to listen and subscribe on Google
- Click here to listen and subscribe on YouTube
- Click here to listen and subscribe on Listen Notes
- Click here to listen and subscribe on Stitcher
- Click here to listen and subscribe on iHeartRadio
- Click here to listen and subscribe on Amazon
- Click here to listen and subscribe on Pandora
Music: Otis McDonald
www.otismacmusic.com
Opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of the interviewed guests do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints of the hosts, SwimSwam Partners, LLC and/or SwimSwam advertising partners.
I love the way he says Le-deKEY
And the substance of the interview was just outstanding.
Summer just continue to have Fun
Fred made an off-hand comment that came to mind while I was watching that race. If Summer wants to win the 800, she needs to be able to reach at least the 600 mark without relying heavily on her legs. Fred’s point was that if she keeps the 800 in her program, she should consider training the 1500. I realize that’s unlikely given her other events.
Has summer moved to Austin?
Vergnoux mentioned biking. I’ve never understood why swimmers don’t seem to do much cross training on a bike. You see it all the time from the top cross country skiers and biathletes during their offseason.
Of course, those athletes generally have extremely favorable climate and scenery for biking. It often looks more like trip of a lifetime than training.
Now I understand why Summer was so upset with her final 15 meters of 200 butterfly in Singapore. Taking excess breaths during that stretch was already a topic with her coach coming out of Canadian trials. Then she did it again in Singapore.
But that does not account for two tenths. She was always behind the pace she needed to be. Summer will understand that once she takes it out faster and the record goes down.
the splits do not agree with you, as the biggest difference was in the final 50
They don’t bother with silly things like splits.
She should take it out faster in some minor meet and just see what happens. Go to Commonwealths and just do an 800 and 200 free.Even drop the 200 if she wants.
She’s not even going to Commonwealth
It was just an example of a minor meet.Any meet other than trials, worlds or Olympics will do.She should also consider a 200 free or 200 back as a 5th event if she wants to do 5 events.This year is a good year to try different things.
Commonwealth is not a minor meet. Do you understand what taper is? and what cycles are?
Interesting, however when I googled “Fred Vergnoux” I actually did not find a lot about him that would lead me to believe he was “storied” before Summer. Yes, some successes, but certainly not at the level of many US coaches ( and I am not trying to be biased here). I think it’s interesting that she decided to train at altitude and made it such a focus of her training.
You are definitely being biased here.
He coached one of the most successful female swimmers of all time. We’ve anointed other coaches for a lot less.
There are many idiotic takes on SwimSwam. Here is an example ^.
You are not only biased but extremely ignorant swimming wise.
Do you even understand what altitude training does to the body? This is not limited to swimming.
Best Coleman interview ever for me.With Fred you just have to open the door and he walks right through.I hope Summer keeps Fred and Antibbe in her training life for the rest of her career.
That is high praise, thank you. I couldn’t agree more – All I had to do was tee Fred up and sit back. It was a pleasure getting to listen to his uninterrupted insight. Would be very cool to see Summer collab with him in the future.
Best interviewer Coleman!