Rising superstar and reigning world champion Summer McIntosh has moved her primary training base down south.
The 16-year-old Canadian is now training full-time with the Sarasota Sharks, club head coach Brent Arckey confirmed to SwimSwam.
The Sharks, based out of Sarasota, Florida, are a USA Swimming gold medal club that ranked seventh in the Club Excellence Program rankings last year.
Arckey says that McIntosh first began training in Sarasota last winter, and after her busy summer schedule was up this year, she ultimately decided the Sharks would be where she would train full-time.
McIntosh is training with Sarasota’s national group, coached by Arckey, and there are several other up-and-coming athletes for her to train alongside, including Michaela Mattes, Gracie Weyant, Addison Sauickie and Amadeusz Knop, who all competed at the U.S. International Team Trials in April.
“Obviously, we are very excited to have her,” said Arckey. “We have a great group of teenagers here and Summer fits right in.”
Arckey says McIntosh will likely be a part of the Sharks’ swimmers headed to meets such as the U.S. Open and Pro Swim Series throughout the 2022-23 season.
She will remain affiliated with Swimming Canada’s High Performance Centre – Ontario, where she can train when she is back in Canada. McIntosh transitioned to the centre after being brought up through the early age group ranks with the Etobicoke Swim Club.
Ben Titley, who was the head coach at HPC – Ontario throughout McIntosh’s run-up to the Tokyo Olympics, left the program this past March for a similar role in Spain.
McIntosh had her true international breakout last year, making the Canadian Olympic team and finishing fourth at the Games in the women’s 400 freestyle at the age of 14.
She then won three medals at the 2021 Short Course World Championships in December, including a gold in the women’s 4×200 free relay, and then became arguably the world’s best all-around swimmer in 2022.
She won gold at the 2022 World Championships in the women’s 200 fly and 400 IM, added a silver medal in the 400 free and bronze in the 4×200 free relay, and then followed up by winning six medals at the Commonwealth Games less than two months later. That included a sweep of the medley events, topping the field in the women’s 200 and 400 IM, recording one of the fastest swims in history in the latter.
McIntosh is scheduled to race next week at the FINA World Cup stop in Toronto, where she’ll be one of 21 Canadian swimmers racing in front of their home crowd.
Is she in school at all?
Full-time Grade 11, continuing Covid style remote learning.
man…. if Canada were a country, it would rule in the international swimming stage!
if only
Are these comments for real? Um, FYI, Canada IS a Country.
Good for her. Can definitely see her easily dominating 200 fly and 400IM in Paris but I wonder what she’ll choose for her third event. Realistically has a shot at a medal (maybe even gold) in 200 free, 400 free, 800 free and 200 IM.
I just checked the olympic schedule and here is her likely lineup: 5 individual races + 3 relays
1st day: 400 free final + 4*100 free relay
2nd day: 200 free semi
3rd day: 400 IM (1st event in the program) + 200 free (last event in the program)
4th day: off
5th day: 200 fly semi
6th day: 200 fly (1st event) + 4*200 (last event)
7th day: 200 IM semi
8th day: 4*100 medley heats*** + 200 IM final
*** Based on the the split she produced at the Comm Games (53 low/mid 10 min after a 400 free), she is going to ask to swim the free leg in the… Read more »
The schedule is about as good as you can expect for such a large program. She might have some competition for the medley relay prelim spot if Ruck gets back to 2018 form.
If Ruck gets back to that sort of shape she’s probably gonna swim Backstroke in prelims.
You think she’ll do 5 individual? I really doubt that. Just to add heats to your schedule:
Day 1: 400 free x 2, 100 free relay
Day 2: 200 free x 2
Day 3: 400IM x 2, 200 free
Day 4: off
Day 5: 200 fly x 2
Day 6: 200 fly, 200 free relay
Day 7: 200 IM x 2
Day 8: 100 free relay swim, 200IM
That gives her 16 swims in 8 days. Theres no way she does well in all 5 individual events. I will be shocked if she does 5.
My assumption is that she would do 4 max, which will obviously include 200 fly and 400IM, then… Read more »
Honestly, who would be surprised if she was 3:56high or 3:57low next summer? Better turns would get her most of the way there
Look it’s quite possible. But if we assume the 400IM and 200 fly are locked, then I think it’s probably more likely that she’ll drop 1 second off her 2IM PB than it is she’ll drop 3+ seconds off her 400 free, which is probably what it’ll take to win.
I don’t see her not swimming the 400 free, she loves the chase. I think her ceiling is much higher in that event as well. I also wouldn’t consider her 200IM “likely gold” just yet either. I think she’s definitely going to improve in that event, but there’s other contenders there that are still improving as well (and especially since the 200 IM is at the end of Summer’s program and others will likely be completely fresh). I think the 4IM/4FR/2FL are probably near locks for her, and probably one of the other 200s.
I agreed that it could be those three events but 200 IM gonna have a few contenders but right now I’m still going with Alex Walsh and could potentially break that WR.
Alex Walsh has had a great year. Way too early to be predicting world records in Paris from her though
Oh absolutely. I wouldn’t consider the 2IM a “likely gold” either, just a likely medal. But I think overcoming Alex Walsh in the 2IM is much more likely than beating Titmus and Ledecky in the 400.
Given the schedule, if she wants to do 4 events, it makes the most sense to drop the 200 free (and 800 free I guess) to do 4 free, 2 fly and 2/4 IM.
How many other swimmers has swam in 5 individual events at the Olympics?
Michael Phelps GOAT twice in
2004 at 19 years old 4 golds & 1 bronze, plus 2 golds & 1 Bronze in relays.
2008 at 23 years old 5 golds & 3 relay golds Just supreme.
Shane Gould
1972 as a 16 year old 3 golds 1 silver & 1 bronze, no relay medals.
Has anyone else tried it?
The same five events would’ve been brutal in Tokyo with all of them squished into the first five days and one day having a triple of 200 free final/200 fly semi/200 IM final with only one event in between each. She’d have probably been forced to drop one of them in favour of the 800 free. Summer was a big winner with how they changed the schedule.
Mireia Belmonte, 2012. 200 fly, 400/800 free, 200/400 IM, plus the 800 free relay, and had there been a women’s 1500 then, I can almost guarantee she’d have swam that, too. She came out with silvers in the 200 fly and 800 free. She did the exact same event program in 2016 (minus the 800 free relay), where she won gold in the 200 fly and bronze in the 400 IM.
She doesn’t get enough credit for how prolific she was in her prime. In the 2012-2016 quad, she was the only one who could come close to Katinka, and she could often beat her, especially in short course meters. At one point in 2014, she held SCM World… Read more »
800 free gold really a stretch imo and I would say a medal but not gold with Ledecky and other distance swimmer in there.
I said a likely medal and possible gold. Since last year she dropped a second off her 200 free and over 3 seconds off her 400 free.
Her other events she doesn’t have official times for last year but compared to two years ago she dropped 10 seconds off her 200 fly, 10 seconds off her 200IM and 21 seconds off her 400IM.
I don’t think it’s unrealistic to think she could drop 12 seconds off her 800 free to win gold in the three years between Tokyo and Paris.
She said in her interview with BH that she really only swam distance events in 2021 as they were what she was most likely to meet the oly qual, but that long term she’s more of a mid distance swimmer. I think it’s unlikely she’ll return to the 800
Yep. She hates distance swimming. Her two favourite events are 400 I.M. and 200 fly.
I hope she swims the 400 free, a la Phelps 2004 rising to the challenge of Thorpe and PVDH in the 200 free.
My home is Sarasota, look forward to watching her train as I swim at the same facility. Welcome,you will love it here!
“You flew your Lear jet up to Sarasota to see a total eclipse of the sun”
That song IS about you.
I take particular umbrage with you misquoting these lyrics (see my screen name 😂)
Another former High Performance Centre–Ontario star who appears to have left is Kylie Masse. SwimSwam already noted that Masse is–at least temporarily if not permanently–training in Spain with Ben Titley (https://swimswam.com/european-champs-medalist-signe-bro-moves-to-spain-to-train-with-ben-titley/); since then, Masse also posted an update on Instagram: https://instagram.com/kyliemasse?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=.
Hot take: Sand and Sarasota should combine programs and make the Sandpipers of Sarasota
Waterpipers of Florida
This sounds wrong lol
Sandsharks?
How often does Vern Gambetta show up to advise on DL?