2024 PARIS SUMMER OLYMPIC GAMES
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Canadian sensation Summer McIntosh has pared down her schedule at the Paris Olympics by opting out of the women’s 200 freestyle, leaving her with four individual entries at the Games.
McIntosh was the 2023 World Championship bronze medalist in the 200 free, breaking the World Junior Record last summer in Fukuoka in a time of 1:53.65, but with the two fastest women ever set to contest the event in Paris, Australia’s Ariarne Titmus (current WR holder) and Mollie O’Callaghan (former WR holder), McIntosh figured to be racing for bronze.
Instead, McIntosh will tackle four events where gold, or at least silver, will be well within reach.
The clear-cut favorite in the 400 IM as the world record holder and two-time world champion, the 17-year-old is also arguably the favorite in the 200 fly as a two-time world champion, and in the 400 free, she’s the 2nd-fastest woman in history (and former WR holder), with Titmus the only swimmer to ever go faster than McIntosh’s PB of 3:56.08.
The 200 IM projects to be one of the best races of the Games, with reigning world champion Kate Douglass, 2022 world champion Alex Walsh, the fastest swimmer in the field Kaylee McKeown and McIntosh all capable of winning gold.
At the 2023 World Championships, the 200 IM was the event McIntosh took off her schedule, avoiding a conflict with the 200 fly semis.
In dropping the 200 free, McIntosh will now have Day 2 completely off, and won’t have to race the semis of the 200 free at the end of Day 3 finals after racing the 400 IM at the beginning of the session.
McIntosh’s Projected Paris Olympic Schedule
Relay prelims are listed in parentheses but don’t expect McIntosh to swim them.
| Session | Event(s) |
| Day 1 Prelims | 400 Free Prelims |
|
(4×100 FR Prelims)
|
|
| Day 1 Finals | 400 Free Finals |
| 4×100 FR Final | |
| Day 2 Prelims | Off |
| Day 2 Finals | Off |
| Day 3 Prelims | 400 IM Prelims |
| Day 3 Finals | 400 IM Final |
| Day 4 Prelims | Off |
| Day 4 Finals | Off |
| Day 5 Prelims | 200 Fly Prelims |
| Day 5 Finals | 200 Fly Semis |
| Day 6 Prelims |
(4×200 FR Prelims)
|
| Day 6 Finals | 200 Fly Final |
| 4×200 FR Final | |
| Day 7 Prelims | 200 IM Prelims |
|
(Mixed 4×100 Medley Prelims)
|
|
| Day 7 Finals | 200 IM Semis |
| Day 8 Prelims |
(4×100 Medley Prelims)
|
| Day 8 Finals | 200 IM Final |
|
(Mixed 4×100 Medley Final)
|
|
| Day 9 Finals |
4×100 Medley Final
|
Harvey To Race 400 Free, MacNeil In 100 Free
In addition to McIntosh opting out of the 200, there were a few other notable entry changes for the Canadian women in the freestyle events.
Mary-Sophie Harvey qualified to swim the 200 free and 100 fly individually in Paris, but has dropped the latter in favor of the 400 free.
Despite not racing it at the Canadian Trials, Harvey adds the 400 free to her program after she went under the Olympic Qualifying Time (4:07.90) at the Sette Colli Trophy in June (4:07.70).
In the 100 fly, Harvey’s withdrawal opens the door for Rebecca Smith to swim the event in Paris. Smith, who was named to the Canadian roster as a relay-only swimmer, placed 3rd in the 100 fly at Trials, under the OQT by three one-hundredths in 57.89.
With Harvey out, Smith is able to seamlessly slide into the 100 fly and no longer be a relay-only swimmer at the Games. Canada now has eight relay-only swimmers on its roster.
In the women’s 100 free, Canada will be represented by Maggie MacNeil, who won gold in the event at the 2023 Pan Am Games in a personal best of 53.64, just shy of the OQT (53.61) but well inside the Olympic Consideration Time (OCT) of 53.88.
Penny Oleksiak won the 100 free at the Canadian Trials in 53.66, which, since it was outside the OQT, made her a relay-only swimmer at the Games. As a relay-only swimmer, Oleksiak was unable to swim the 100 free in Paris since she hadn’t achieved the OQT (in any event).
MacNeil was able to add the 100 free despite only having the OCT because she qualified for the Games with an OQT in the 100 fly, the event in which she’s the defending Olympic champion.
Is she swimming relays
Haughey favorite for bronze now. I think she is ALL in for the 100 free where she has a much better chance of gold but the field at the top is so close that she may even miss a medal (MOC, Sjostrom, Steenbergen et al could realistically beat her). the 200 free does not have as much depth at the top and she should be a clear favorite for bronze.
Seems like a really smart decision, leaving her in great position in her more competitive events.
Everyone is talking about the 2IM showdown – and for good reason.
But I’m really intrigued by the 4free as well. I think it will be a battle.
i’m nervous. First race that Summer races K8
It’s a smart and obvious move for Summer. I think the SwimSwam community won’t have less regrets about her dropping the 200Free than dropping the 800 Free!
The 200FS was always problematic for her given the schedule and then the performances of Titmus and O’Callaghan at the Australian trials sealed it.
Not sure why anyone should be surprised McIntosh is not swimming the individual 200 free. To me it’s about as surprising as the sun rising in the morning. Anyone watching how her program was managed in other championships of the last several years may have noted that
a) (at least as far as I can tell) she never took on overlapping individual events (in Paris the final of 200 fr is same day as 400 IM heats and finals), only relays sometimes overlapped with her individual events. Choosing the 400 IM over the 200 free is a no brainer.
b) If she had included the individual 200fr without dropping anything else she would have taken on a bigger schedule than… Read more »
I also swear I heard Devin or one of the commentators at Canadian trials saying it was unlikely she was going to swim this event in paris because of the schedule? Tweet from Devin today says “as expected” to the news she dropped it. I had the impression she swam it at trials for the relay qualification.
Smart decision. Best case scenario was a bronze and this saves her for two later events where she could win gold.
MacNeil swimming the 100 free is very unexpected. I assume it was confirmed that Oleksiak wouldn’t be given an invite because I can’t imagine MacNeil would have taken that opportunity from her