Canadian superstar Summer McIntosh is currently on a three-week training camp in the south of France with six-time Olympic coach Fred Vergnoux.
Photos have been shared on social media of McIntosh and some of Vergnoux’s multinational training group, CN d’Antibes, hitting the slopes in the Pyrenees Mountains town of Font-Romeu. This town is home to France’s National Altitude Training Centre.
CN d’Antibes usually trains at the World Aquatics Training Centre in Antibes, a pool opened in 2023 by World Aquatics in collaboration with the French Swimming Federation and the club. Antibes is about a five hour drive west of Font Romeu.
For the last year and a half, Vergnoux has coached CN d’Antibes. Before that, he served as the head coach of the Belgian National Team for about a year. He worked for nine years at Spain’s National Training Center prior to that, leading names such as Mireia Belmonte Garcia to Olympic success.
McIntosh’s current training base, where she trained to three Olympic golds, is in Florida with Brent Arckey and the Sarasota Sharks. Prior to Sarasota, she swam at the High Performance Center – Ontario under Ben Titley (who is now in Spain). Her age groups roots lie at the Etobicoke Swim Club in the Toronto area.
Kamal Muhammad at TST now
Who else is training at that altitude camp?
Is she not eligible to swim at NCAA?
it seems anyone is eligible to swim at NCAA if they really want to
Is she considering swimming in college (NCAA) or is she turning pro ?
Summer turned pro when she was 15.
I believe that decision on part was made so that she could have greater control of her training schedule so as to allow her to attend camps such as this one while still being settled in Sarasota while working with Brent.
I’ve heard Brent mention on various interviews that Summer drives the ship since it is her career after all.
Ahem, it’s Jill McIntosh behind that wheel…
As it should have been when she was a child.
Hopefully Summer has lots of say now that’s she’s an adult.
adult?
Brent Arckey
Not
Brent Ackey
I wish more swimmers would normalize these type of things. Leon swimming for a bit in AUS, Madden for a good while in the UK and Summer in France (granted for just 3 weeks). I think these are great for all aspects of growth.
It takes $$$$$$$. Loads of it. Most “swimmers’ don’t exactly have families with that kind of loot sitting around to pay for these sorts of things. In Summer’s case, now that she’s an Olympic champion, she can pay for it herself perhaps. But 90+ % of other swimmers can’t afford this thing you say should be “normalized”.
Who’s gonna say it?
(She didn’t have Olympic gold medals or money of her own when she and her mom moved to Florida. Her family is very, very wealthy).
I’m sure she’s making good money of her own now, but there’s ‘good money’ and there’s ‘spending a month in the mountains in France during peak ski season’ money.
100% correct. They are very affluent and have had the ability to do many things that not many young athletes (not just swimmers) can afford to do. That isn’t’ taking away her accomplishments by no means. However, it does beg the question what could other highly talented young swimmers have accomplished had they had access to similar training, support… we’ll never know.
There’s Carhartt and there’s Moncler…
Both keep you warm, but one is 5x the price and fits in with the crowd at Chamonix!
Summer has endorsement’s but you are right, when she moved to Florida that wasn’t by chance she did that. She had to have a support system around her to help. Her parents did not have the contacts to make this move to a good swimming club like the Sharks. That is why she has her private sponsors helping her.
Most athletes especially high performance athletes will pick up private sponsors who you do not see on her endorsement lists. These sponsors could be a CEO of a company that wants her to succeed and has a rolodex of contacts that he makes available to the athlete. Such private sponsors are invaluable because they can get athlete’s top tier coaches,… Read more »
How do you qualify what “very, very wealthy” means, and why the need to bring up what one certain swimmer’s parents’ income is? This is a given in all sports across the board, that most elite athletes have some sort of economic stability behind them. Every athlete at this level is privileged in some way, and the opportunity for each to turn pro and yet still participate in the Olympics gives each of them an added edge.
Her dad is an exec at a mega corporation and a company he co-founded sold for something north of $250 million (I looked it up yesterday but don’t remember if it was 275 or 375?)
There’s “economic stability” and there’s “my wife and child can afford to live in another country to reach their best training situation.” It takes a lot of pressure off Summer not having to do any appearances or interviews she doesn’t want to do, because she’s not worried about trying to make a livelihood off swimming.
And I think it shows in her approach to the sport. She basically does CBC and that’s it. That’s why I can’t get on her bandwagon – great swimmer, but… Read more »
I think summer’s Dad’s salary was closer to $2 to 3 million, at least when I looked it up. I think it’s really rude to single out one swimmer’s family income and none of the rest.
Katie Ledecky’s parents are a lawyer and hospital administrator; is that affluent? Leon Marchand has 2 parents who were elite swimmers; did their connections give him an edge? Summer has already contributed hugely to this sport. Barely 18, and already the numbers of young Canadians signing up for lessons have increased. Already, she has smashed multiple world records. Give the girl a chance.
lol ok
Font Romeu is not that expensive 64 euros a day for a single room all inclusive. Pretty good deal https://cnea-fontromeu.fr/en/booking/
That’s cheaper than I would have thought. Wonder why more folks don’t train there all year long.
Interestingly, they have “hypoxic rooms” in case the 1800 meters isn’t high enough I guess?
Swimmers situations vary greatly from one to another.
Summer is undoubtedly privileged in addition to her olympic medals and I don’t know for Madden.
But Marchand like Ceccon training together in Brisbane seem to have ‘middle class’ families.
Their merits are sportive.
Perhaps their recent Olympic successes, sponsorships coupled with their respective gov’t funding make it much easier for them vs a 17-yr old who is “on the cusp” but has yet to break through… if you understand my point.
How does altitude adjustment work? Does it benefit/make times faster?
The lack of oxygen at altitude trains the body to work more efficiently with less oxygen. When you return to your normal altitude, your body uses the adaptations gained at altitude to direct oxygen with maximum efficiency in the body – thus making times faster if all other variables remain the same.
And how long does the adaptation last?
Depends on the physiology of the athlete but on average around 2-3 weeks.
If someone swam in a meet after returning from altitude training would that time have to be altitude adjusted or something?
no, you wouldnt need altitude adjustment in that case. if a meet is swum at a certain altitude (i think USA or NCAA has their charts per event and alt.) then you get the conversion.
….which absolutely should be looked into and fixed. Those are a joke and not based on any actual scientific/mathematical data
No, because everyone’s bodies respond differently and it’s not reasonable to test for this response and come up with a calculation to adjust it. And also there would be no reason for athletes to train in altitude if their benefits were neutralized.
There is often altitude adjustment done for times in meets swum at altitude, however.
Is that noe ponti?
The one with the ski glasses on at the back?
Marc Antoine Olivier.
Not positive but I don’t think so? They had a big celebration for him in Switzerland this week (though I guess he could be back and forth).