Canada's McIntosh ready for a swimming breakout in Paris

It's Summer time.

A generational talent bearing the Maple Leaf steps onto the swim blocks Saturday at La Defense Arena in Paris. The anticipation of what Toronto teenager Summer McIntosh could do in the Olympic Games is high.

Less than a month out from her 18th birthday, McIntosh is the sort of Olympic multi-medal contender that puts her in Cindy Klassen territory. The speedskater's five medals, including one gold, in 2006 was the most by a Canadian at a single Olympic Games.

McIntosh came close to her first Olympic medal as a 14-year-old in Tokyo, where the youngest athlete on the Canadian team was fourth in the 400-metre freestyle.

She gets another crack at that podium Saturday with the 400 heats in the morning and the final at night in an expected showdown with American star Katie Ledecky, who is a decade older than McIntosh, and reigning Olympic champion Arianne Titmus of Australia.

Also the world record holder in Monday's women's 400-metre individual medley, McIntosh is trending to be the first Canadian swimmer to win an Olympic gold medal since teammate Penny Oleksiak in 2016.

"It would mean the world," McIntosh said.

McIntosh will also race the 200-metre butterfly and 200-metre individual medley. How she'll be deployed in relays remains to be seen, but she's said she wants to be part of the women's 4 x 200 free relay.

"There's an unlimited potential here," said television commentator and longtime coach Byron MacDonald.

"The American, Katie Ledecky, has won the 800 free for three Olympics in a row or whatever, but that's a narrow field. She swims just freestyle distances. Summer can swim so many different races so well."

How McIntosh and her support team manage her recovery over nine days of heats and finals is crucial in how many times she steps on the podium in Paris.

"That's not talked about enough," McIntosh said. "The whole process in between that two to four-minute race, there's so many things that you can do to recover properly.

"After a heat swim, I'm going to have lunch as soon as I possibly can, probably get a massage and I'll try to take a nice long nap. Then I'll eat again and it's back to the pool pretty much.

"Trying to stay off your feet as much as possible, but at the same time, making sure you're getting treatments and eating … and also drinking enough water, all those small little things that kind of add up over time, especially when you get to day seven, day eight of a swim meet, it's really important to make sure you're recovering properly from the start of day one."

McIntosh, who doesn't work with a mental training coach, says keeping her brain in the game over the long haul will be as taxing as the physical demands on her.

"Mental almost tops physical in some ways," she said. "It's super important because the body does what the mind believes for sure."

Once described as "all gas, no breaks" by Oleksiak, McIntosh can shoulder a heavy workload.

"She's willing to get very uncomfortable for a really long time and that's kind of her gift," said her Sarasota Sharks coach Brent Arckey, who will be the lone non-Canadian among the seven coaches on the pool deck.

"I also feel like she's done a nice job of broadening her toolbox as far as details, mechanics, underwater turns, all those things she's been working really hard on.

"Being able to control herself and not worry about the things that are going on around her, she's already been very above-average for a teenager on that.

"She has a lot of fun racing really hard."

McIntosh has trained under Arckey with the Sharks since moving to Florida in 2022.

"I'm confident with the coach that she's got, confident with her team around her, with our team around her as well that we can keep her focused on what she needs to focus on without distraction," said Swimming Canada's high-performance director John Atkinson.

Elite sport is a McIntosh family theme. Her mother Jill Horstead swam for Canada in the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. Sister Brooke competed in world championship pairs figure skating last year.

McIntosh's mother, sister and father Greg will be in Paris. One of the family's three cats is named Mikey in an homage to American swim star Michael Phelps.

McIntosh isn't flying under the radar as Oleksiak did when the latter won freestyle gold, butterfly silver and a pair of relay medals as an unheralded 16-year-old in Rio's 2016 Games.

The spotlight is squarely on McIntosh in Paris, but she has the benefit of an Olympic Games under her belt when she wasn't a headliner. McIntosh watched how teammates Oleksiak, Maggie Mac Neil and Kylie Masse ascended the podium multiple times in Tokyo.

"Coming off Tokyo, it was really a whirlwind of emotions and a whirlwind of information because that was my first meet on the world stage at either junior or senior level, so I learned so much just watching top-level athletes, the way they conduct themselves on deck, kind of just watching from afar," she explained.

Oleksiak holds the record for Canada's most decorated Olympian with a career seven medals. McIntosh can challenge that benchmark.

"Summer is carving her own path and it's an insanely impressive path at that," said Oleksiak, who will race relays in Paris. "I'm beyond excited to watch her this summer."

— With files from Gregory Strong

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 26, 2024.