McIntosh breaks world junior, national records in 200-metre butterfly at swim trials

TORONTO — Summer McIntosh has strung together three consecutive record-setting performances. Yet one of the first things that came to her mind were areas she could improve.

McIntosh broke another of her world junior and national records in winning the women's 200-metre butterfly on Friday at the Canadian swimming trials. The 16-year-old finished with a time of two minutes 4.70 seconds at the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre.

Her previous mark for both records was 2:05.05, which she set on March 2 at the Pro Swim Series in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

"Yeah, overall, I'm pretty happy with the time," the Toronto native said. "I mean, my turns definitely have some polishing to do and probably need to look over my splits, I don't think they were the best.

"But it's all good, still learning how to manage doing more than a few events."

McIntosh's performance only added to what's already been an eye-opening trials entering Friday.

She set the world record in the 400 freestyle on Tuesday, clocking in at 3:56.08.

McIntosh followed that up by swimming the fourth-fastest time ever in the 200 individual medley on Thursday. She lowered her previous world junior and national records in the process, with a time of 2:06.89.

However, McIntosh said she views it all as an opportunity to further her progression.

"I try to look at every meet and every day and every training session as a stepping-stone to keep improving and get better. There's always so much to learn from them," she said.

"Not only is it the technique that I have, it's also all the mental things that I have to focus on and recovery-wise, what I could do out of the pool as well, when I'm back home in-between sessions. So there's always good things to learn and things that I need to improve on as well."

Part of the process for McIntosh — who trains in Sarasota, Fla., with the Sarasota Sharks club — has been making consistent progression.

"I think it just shows me that I'm doing something right," she said of improving on her record at the Pro Swim Series. "My coach Brent (Arckey) always knows what to do and a lot more fly sets with a bunch of the guys back home in Florida.

"So it's been really fun to kind of soak that up this year and continue to see my fly improving all the time."

McIntosh added that she hadn't worked on the butterfly as much leading up to the 2022 world championships, where she won gold and set a then-world junior and national record of 2:05.20.

This time around, though, that was not the case.

"To do a few more fly sets, it definitely gives me more confidence that I can take on a gruelling event like this."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 31, 2023.