2023 SOUTHERN ZONE SECTIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS (ORLANDO)
- February 9-12, 2023
- Rosen Aquatic Center, Orlando, Florida
- Long Course Meters (50 meters), Prelims/Finals
- Psych Sheets
- Meet site
- Results
Summer McIntosh kicked off her 2023 swimming season with a bang on Thursday evening in Orlando, Florida, winning the women’s 800 free at the Orlando Sectionals.
The 16-year-old Canadian swam 8:20.19 in the 800 free. That’s her best time by almost five seconds (8:25.04). The time ranks her 2nd in the world this season behind only the defending World and Olympic Champion, and World Record holder, Katie Ledecky.
Note: the Meet Record listed on the Meet Results is Wrong. 8:22.61 was Katie Ledecky’s 800 free split en route to a 1500 free at last year’s Sectionals meet. Her actual time in the 800 free was 8:11.83.
2022-2023 LCM Women 800 Free
Ledecky
8:07.07
| 2 | Li Bingjie | CHN | 8:13.31 | 07/29 |
| 3 | Ariarne Titmus | AUS | 8:13.59 | 07/29 |
| 4 | Simona Quadarella | ITA | 8:16.46 | 07/29 |
| 5 | Isabelle Gose | GER | 8:17.95 | 07/29 |
McIntosh, the defending World Champion in the 200 fly and 400 IM, swam the 800 free at the Tokyo Olympics, finishing 11th in prelims. She dropped the race from her schedule at the World Championships in 2022, however.
The results was within two tenths of Brittany MacLean’s 2014-vintage Canadian Record in the event (8:20.02).
Her swim shattered the old Canadian Age Record for 15-17s, which was an 8:26.59 set by Brittany Reimer in 2005.
Splits Comparison to previous PB:
| Summer McIntosh | ||
| 2023 Sectionals |
Tokyo 2020 Olympics
|
|
| 100m | 59.81 | 59.85 |
| 200m | 62.50 | 62.99 |
| 300m | 62.58 | 63.09 |
| 400m | 63.27 | 63.62 |
| 500m | 63.23 | 64.10 |
| 600m | 63.73 | 64.26 |
| 700m | 63.52 | 64.22 |
| 800m | 61.55 | 62.91 |
| Final Time | 8:20.19 | 8:25.04 |
McIntosh’s delta versus her prior personal best increased as the race went on, including a 1.36-second gap over the final 100 meters. Even after dropping this event from her schedule, this swim made it clear that she’s still improving her endurance while training with the Sarasota Sharks, which is probably Florida’s most successful club program in distance events.
She led a 1-2-3 finish for the Sharks in the race, with US Junior National Team member Michaela Mattes finishing 2nd in 8:41.15 and Addison Sauickie finishing 3rd in 8:50.61.
In the boys’ race, 16-year-old Ryan Erisman of Laker Swimming won in 8:10.22. That’s his best time by over 11 seconds. That’s a huge taper for Erisman, who was 8:39 in his last meet three weeks ago. Erisman is a high school sophomore and one of the top distance swimmers in the high school class of 2025.
His fellow sophomore, 15-year-old Ethan Ekk of ATAC was 2nd in 8:14.62. Along with Diego Dulieu (8:23.08), and Brody Singley (8:26.49), the top four were all under their best times, dropping a combined 33.73 seconds.
Other Day 1 Winners:
- Tampa Elite’s Avery Hawker won the girls’ 50 fly in 28.07, a nail-biter by .02 seconds ahead of Bolles’ Ella Chan.
- Cuban Luciano Gonzalez won the boys’ 50 fly in 24.82. The top high school finisher was Leif Bouwman in 3rd in 25.09.
- Kate Meyers-Labenz from Bolles won the girls’ 50 breast in 30.33.
- Puerto Rican swimmer Yeziel Morales won the boys’ 50 back in 26.63. 16-year-old Landon Kyser from Bolles was 2nd in 26.92.
- There was a tie for the victory in the women’s 50 breaststroke between Jessica Strong and Junior National Team member Gracie Weyant. They both swam 33.30s side-by-side in heat 1.
- SoFlo’s Julio Horrego, a Honduran international, won the boys’ 50 breaststroke in 28.42.
- The Saint Petersburg girls’ relay of Zoie Fjare, Izzy Riva, Karrington Hansen, and Brinkleigh Hansen won the 800 free relay in 8:31.45. All four swimmers are in the 13-14 age group, and that relay took almost 12 seconds off the old 13-14 LSC Record in the event.
- The Academy Aquatic Club won the 800 free relay with a time of 7:57.91. That relay included Liam Schindler, Gavin Peck, Joao Lapagesse, and Aidan Clements.
The force is strong in that one.
Katie Ledecky will be 27 in Paris. Summer will be 17 (turning 18).
Ledecky’s best times. are behind her
Summer’s best times are ahead of her.
I bet on Summer in the 400 free
I agree but Katie Ledecky is an unusual individual. “Due to earlier biological maturation, female swimmers reach a competitive level for elite performance three year earlier than males, which is as early as by the age of 18 yrs depending on the race distance, performance peaks by the age of 21.9 to 26.1 yrs.” Dara Torres competed in the 2008 Olympics and won 3 silver medals in the 50 free and free relays. She was 41. I highly doubt a distance swimmer could do the same. Katie turns 26 tomorrow March 17, 2023 so according to the article she is closing in on her peak. However, Katie is an unusual individual and might possibly beat the odds. But I don’t think… Read more »
Summer McIntosh hasn’t competed in 800 for long period of time. Very significant period of time from 15yo to 16 and a half years old. The period that was marked with steep her development as a swimmer. I think she just put her 800FR personal best in the line with her personal bests in other events. Same as Ledecky did with 15:20 in 2018 – she simply didn’t have the opportunity to do so in Rio when she was on the top of her achievements and previous old 15:25 record didn’t simply reflected correctly what she was capable of in this event.
So the 5 sec of improvement of McIntosh in personal best in 800 distance can signal either… Read more »
You’re thinking about it too deeply, all this is is a 16 year old girl swimming an off-event at a random meet with a time that would final at the Olympics
Public service comment to displace the troll from initial view.
Not that long time ago 8:20 was pretty decent time. It would put her on podium in London for instance. But 800FR is a very tricky business. Swimmers come in and go out very quickly. Just recently there was a wave of young talents like Bingjie, Jianjiahe, Quadarella, Grimes … you name it. They brought the hope of bringing the competition in this event to new heights. And where are they now? 35 years old time of Janet Evans still has a great chance for medal in contemporary competition.
Only Titmus is showing the longevity of steady progress.
8:20 by itself is nothing else but a good in-season result. Nothing to discuss. But that is a personal best… Read more »
You’re comparing a 25 year old veteran to a 16 year old age grouper. Large personal bests are not only natural but expected.
I checked the points calculator and almost nailed it immediately. I estimated the 8:20.19 in the 800 was roughly equivalent to 4:04.49 at 400. Turns out it’s parallel to 4:04.19.
Would we be celebrating that? The distance events are so incompetent these mediocre results are tossed out to behold just because they are marginally faster than all the paddling in place times that define the event.
What a stupid mean spirited posting…by an Awsi,what a surprise.
He’s not an Aussie. He’s an American. As to what type of American he is, I’ll leave that to the discerning to decide.
Awsi, you’re a piano with one very out of tune key. We’re tired of hearing it.
Her time would’ve finaled at the Olympics so… yes? If we saw someone who usually swims the 200/400 free like Gemmell drop a time like this, I think there would most definitely be an article
Hey, can you go 4:04.19? Can you even go 4:24? How about 4:44?
Some respect
Summer Mackintosh in Fukuoka prediction:
200 IM gold
400 IM gold
200 fly gold
400 free silver
And 3 relay medals
Summer Mackintosh in Paris prediction:
200 IM gold
400 IM gold
200 fly gold
400 free gold
And 3 relay medals
I love these bullish predictions on McIntosh, but if you’re going to keep making them, please spell her name correctly. It’s literally in the title of the article.
She obviously has a shot in the 100 free and 200 free relays. What is the third relay medal you think she’s getting?
She has a chance to be on the mixed 4×100
How? Obviously they’ll use a male breaststroker. No way she’s faster than Masse in back, MacNeil in fly or Oleksiak in free.
She’ll be faster than Oleksiak.
She is already split 53 in free relay
She could swim MMR prelims or medley relay prelims
If she’s already swimming 4 individual events plus the two freestyle relays, why would they put her in a relay heat? Just to give her a bonus medal?
She’s not a top 2 female in any of the four 100m strokes so the only way this happens is if Canada wants to load her up with a free medal instead of giving to someone who earned it (and presumably someone with a much lighter event load).
Notionally …. yes; moreso the 4XMED than MMR but is she, at this point, really CAN’s 2nd fastest split on the 4X100 OR in any other stroke ? Can’t say that I can answer that with an affirmative.
Should she start dropping sub53 splits OR circumstances (such as loss of a key perfomer such as Masse or McNeill) require adjustments to that line-up then the answer may well be different.
Nope!
Summer McIntosh is not faster than Kylie Masse in the W 100 BK or Maggie MacNeil in the W 100 FL or Penny Oleksiak in the W 100 FR. I sincerely doubt that Summer McIntosh is faster than Taylor Ruck in the W 100 FR.
Precisely !! Nor is she the obviously Option B for any of these strokes. The only circumstances under which I could see her play any part in 4XMED is if they somehow had to redeploy both Oleksiak and Ruck to swim butterfly and backstroke legs leaving her to swim freestyle leg.
As if McIntosh is going to swim the heats of the W 200 IM and the W 400 FR in the morning session of Day 1 let alone the semifinals of the W 200 IM and the final of the W 400 FR in the evening session of Day 1 of the 2023 World Aquatics Championships.
Most likely won’t swim the 200IM at WC but probably close to a guarantee she will be swimming it in Paris as the schedule is much more favourable.
As if she couldn’t just coast through the prelims in both events. She’s a teenager who will be at peak performance, fresh as a daisy on day 1. It wouldn’t surprise me if she just coasted through the IM semifinals too. It’s not exactly the deepest event.
Ledecky swam the 200/1500 free double to great success for years. A 30 year old Phelps swam 1:53 and split 1:45 in the 200 fly/free double. This idea that armchair experts have on here that athletes in the best shape of their lives can’t possibly swim two events in a single session, especially swimmers of generational talent, is hilariously misguided.
It’s three events in one session because of the relay.
I don’t think she’ll beat Titmus in the 400 free or Douglass and Walsh in the 200 IM.
I don’t think she’ll beat Titmus in the 400 free
—
That is why I predicted silver for Fukuoka
She won’t beat Ledecky in the W 400 FR. You think Ledecky is going roll over for some teenager.
Of course Ledecky isn’t going to roll over for SM, just as Titmus and McIntosh aren’t going to roll over for anyone either. You’re talking elite athletes mate. It’s not in their DNA or mindset to even remotely think that way.
Some teenager = a girl who has been faster than Ledecky in the 400 free at the same age.
Ledecky did in 2019 world championships when she got beaten by teenager Titmus
The 400 free is tricky especially if li bingjie translates her 400 free short course world record into long course. There are 4 women contesting this race. Katie Ledecky, Ariane titmus, li bingjie and Summer Mcintosh.
Nobody is getting near Zhang Yufei in the 200 fly if she is near her best. Yufei will probably be swimming 2:02 by then. She,ll already the fastest ever on a textile suit.
I think she has the 400 IM gold unless Yu Yiting drops big time which is entirely possible. But as of right now, McIntosh, is the far away favorite.
I think Alex Walsh wins gold in the 200 IM. However, there is no clear cut favorite here. Especially when Alex Walsh,… Read more »
Li Bingjie has never broken 4:00 in the W 400 FR (LCM).
Yes, but li bingjie won bronze at the tokyo Olympics at 4:01 and that was before her big drop in time in the short course version.
I think she will be under 4:00 very soon.
“Nobody is getting near Zhang”… except perhaps a generational talent who is still dropping time like an age grouper because, oh wait, she still is one.
You have to have 55 speed in the 100 fly to come close to a 2:02. Summer hasn’t proven she has that. Zhang does. She also goes flat start 52 in the 100 free.
Zhang has swum a 55 in the 100fly. And Zhang herself is a generational talent. She has also swum a 52 in the 100 free. She is the Chinese national record holder in the 100 free.
If Zhang is at her best, she is basically the only swimmer with any chance of even getting near the 200 fly world record. At her best, everyone else will be swimming for silver in the 200fly.
Yes Zhang swam a 55.62 100 fly at age 22 which is almost three years ago as she turns 25 in April. Maybe she can lower that time. To put things in perspective SM just dropped her PB from 59.28 to 57.92 so the gap is closing and with her progression shown as a 16 year old I’m sure it will continue to get closer.
When Zhang went 2:03.86 in Tokyo her last 100 was 1:05.57. When SM went 2:05.20 in WC last year she closed in 1:05.03. So that tells me SM holds her speed better than anyone including Zhang over the final 100.
It’s probable that with her progression SM will continue to drop her 100 fly… Read more »
If summer macintosh swims 55 in the 100fly and 2:05 in the 200 fly, I would agree with you.
The chinese dont swim short course races that often so comparing them to swimmers abroad is tricky.
I just don’t see anyone getting close to zhang yufei in the 200fly. In fact, I think she will be swimming 2:02 in Paris.
SM 2:05.20 wasn’t short course WC in December but rather LC in Budapest last July?
I’m not sure why you are bringing up short course races as both times were LC by both swimmers.
Perhaps I misinterpreted what you meant.
Zhang Yufei broke the textile world record in the women’s 200 meter butterfly at the 2020 Summer Olympics. Now that China has ended the COVID-19 zero policy, training should return to normal.
Nope!
End of discussion.
I hope she has a long and happy life and is able to monetize this gift she has.
I respect her choice to drop the distance events (it really makes more sense with her schedule, much easier to swim 4 individual events when they’re all 400 or under) but you can’t convince me that Summer wouldn’t potentially challenge for gold if she was serious about the 800.
I don’t think she would challenge for gold, but she’d have a shot at silver or bronze.
She just swam an 8:20, 5 seconds faster than 18 months ago, with an unknown amount of rest and after she already declared she will not be competing in distance events. Gold in Tokyo was 8:12. Absolutely not unreachable if she wanted it.
I’ll be surprised if Paris is that “slow”.
Yeah but Ledecky times in Tokyo is not at her best like last year world championship of 8:08 and that’s why the race in Tokyo is a little bit closer than expected.I guess you could say there’s a possibility but realistically nobody is beating Ledecky in this events which she has not lost for a decade and if she not lost this event against Titmus, there’s no way she gonna start losing this event against McIntosh.
Anthony Nesty has reinvigorated and rejuvenated Katie Ledecky. Check out Ledecky’s most recent performance in the W 1500 FR.
https://www.fina.org/swimming/rankings?gender=F&distance=1500&stroke=FREESTYLE&poolConfiguration=LCM&year=all&startDate=&endDate=×Mode=ALL_TIMES®ionId=all&countryId=
I’m in shock. You just wrote a swimmer’s Surname without her first name before!
Amazing
Greg Meehan was running Katie Ledecky into the ground as was the case with Simone Manuel. Katie Ledecky left Stanford before Greg Meegan completely ruined her swimming career.
Thank God for the Nesty Plunge!
8:20.19, huh?
Katie Grimes posted a time of 8:17.05 in the heats of the W 800 FR at the 2020 Summer Olympics at the age of 15.
Yes, the Olympics and a random Sectionals meet in Feb are equivalent comparisons.
We don’t need to pit these teen girls against each other constantly.
She’s one of those swimmers that has to choose. Like Phelps, there’s going to be events she could medal in that she’ll never swim at the Olympics.
The curse of talent.
True. I suppose Phelps probably could have medalled in the 200 back as well on top of his 5 events he actually did medal in.
100 back and 400 free were probably very possible, too.
Like if the schedule were more forgiving, he could’ve just switched from fly to back as individual events and been nearly as successful.
I think the word “possible” is doing a lot of heavy lifting there. The 100 back for sure… his 400 free PB is 96th all time and wouldn’t have really even been close. He did swim the 400 free at World Champs but didn’t make the final.
If he shifted focus to it, it’s more than possible imo. (Esp if it was like, the only race on his program or something.)
Though I did forget he basically did win the 100 free at one of the world champs, lol.
His time leading of the 400 fr relay would have taken bronze in the individual 100 fr, and he was even better in the 100 back than he was in the 100 fr.
Crazy to think that Phelps held top 3 performances in 8 different individual events.
No because most people that swims in women 800 right now is swimming it for the second or third place
Most people that swim any event aren’t a realistic chance for gold.
I think my reasoning is that the case for 800 is different than any events because you have one swimmers than never lost this since she won gold in her first Olympics like a decade ago that’s why I’m pretty confident no one is beating her in this events.
People said the same thing about Phelps and the 200 fly.
8:20 (or faster) is expected for someone who goes sub 4 in the 400 and I think her ceiling is probably gonna be similar to Titmus and that won’t be good enough for gold in Paris.
Unless somebody can go below 8:10 and get close to Ledecky time of 8:08 of last year, it could get close but I don’t see that happening.
Show your reasoning here haha. Three women besides McIntosh have ever been below 4:00. Ledecky and Titmus are both well below 8:20 in the 800 while Pellegrini’s PB is 8:24.99. Not sure how you can say there is an “expectation” based on a sample size of 3 where only 2 of those 3 meet your criteria.
I’m not talking about what her ceiling is, because as we know, she’s not going to seriously compete in this event. If she took it seriously and focussed on distance events I could absolutely see her doing much better than Titmus in the 800. Titmus’s PB at the same age was 8:23, and that was at trials and not some random sectionals.
Pellegrini wore two super suits when she went sub 4 and comparing different swimmers’ rate of development isn’t as illuminating as you think it is.
That still doesn’t even attempt to explain your assertion that anyone sub 4 minutes is “expected” to be sub 8:20. Remove Pellegrini for the reason you stated and you have a sample size of 2. Not exactly scientific when you’re comparing different events across vastly different distances.
Feels like you just made it up and you definitely can’t support it with any evidence. You also don’t explain why you think her ceiling would be similar to Titmus, but just make a snide comment towards the actual evidence I used to compare them.
But whatever.
She’s trending to shorter events, but still… why would anyone think that 8:20 is her current ceiling? You think her training was focused on the Sectionals meet?
Medal – yes; even as high as silver but Budapest showed that Ledecky is still capable of sub 8.10. Not saying SM COULDN’T conceivably get down to that territory but some other event(s); in which her gold chances are sppreciably higher; would need to be shelved in order for her to put greater emphasis on an event where, even then, a gold reward is less certain.
In terms of prediction 800 and 1500 free is locked just like 4×100 when predicting the winners
Just like 400 free was locked for Ledecky
I mean the more longer distance and I never said anything about 400 free being locked, I said it’s gonna get close between the three of them and right now you just made up the thing I never said
Nothing is ever “locked in” not that Katie isn’t amazing at these events. She wasn’t “locked in” for the 400 at the Olympics. Didn’t look super confident during her events except in the relay and seemed happy to do as well as she did
I never said anything about 400 is locked and I understand what you’re saying about nothing is ever locked but in terms of predictions ,anybody who follows the swimming world knows when it comes to making prediction for world championship if Ledecky is swimming in 800 and 1500 she’s pretty much guaranteed to win it just like Australia is guaranteed to win 4×100 relay this summer.
There were 6 or 7 heats of the 800 at this meet. Summer was the fastest but Katie Ledecky has made distance events popular with young swimmers and this is a good thing.