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<\/p>\nIRVINE, Calif. \u2014 When Canadian Olympic swimmer Summer McIntosh began training with the University of Texas pro group following the 2025 world championships, Bob Bowman wasn\u2019t quite sure what to expect. The longtime coach, best known for his work with 28-time Olympic medalist Michael Phelps, quickly discovered the same qualities that have been lauded by those who have been around McIntosh for years.<\/p>\n
At 19, she is businesslike. She wants feedback. She\u2019s constantly looking for tiny ways to improve. All of it has transformed her into one of the most dominant, versatile swimmers in the world.<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew she\u2019d train hard, but wow,\u201d Bowman said. \u201cShe\u2019s more serious than I am, and that\u2019s pretty serious.\u201d<\/p>\n
A three-time Olympic gold medalist’s view on “success” might not be what you think<\/p>\n
Elise Devlin<\/p>\n
This week, the Toronto native will compete at the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in Irvine, her first major international meet under Bowman\u2019s tutelage. She\u2019ll go head to head against many of the top swimmers from the U.S., Australia and Japan and will look to bolster a resume that already includes four Olympic medals (three golds), eight long-course world championship golds and four world records.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s such a gift to witness it,\u201d said Brittany MacLean Campbell, a 2016 Olympic bronze medalist for Canada and now an analyst for CBC. \u201cAnd if I could fully understand it, I would have been a better swimmer.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pan Pacs also carries family connections. McIntosh\u2019s mom, Jill, is a former Canadian Olympian who won bronze in the 200-meter butterfly at the 1985 Pan Pacs, one of her two international medals (the other being at the 1986 Commonwealth Games). That, as well as the meet being about an hour\u2019s drive from the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic venue, adds extra layers of excitement for McIntosh. She said she\u2019s \u201cbeen working towards Pan Pacs for a long time now.\u201d<\/p>\n
All that effort, she hopes, has put her in position to peak this week.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s a good sign for her national team. Said John Atkinson, Swimming Canada\u2019s high performance director and national coach: \u201cYou can\u2019t put a limit on what she can achieve.\u201d<\/p>\n
Though McIntosh\u2019s mom was a swimmer, Summer and her older sister Brooke were given plenty of athletic options growing up. The 21-year-old Brooke took to figure skating, competing in the sport until 2025.<\/p>\n
Summer skated as a kid, too, and Brooke said that when\u00a0her sister stopped around age 9, \u201cshe was better than me.\u201d Not bad, considering Brooke went on to represent Canada at the World Junior Championships and Winter Youth Olympics. But for as talented as Summer might\u2019ve been, some of the traits that make her an excellent swimmer held her back on skates.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe dives in the pool and just goes 110 percent all the time,\u201d Brooke said. \u201cSometimes you can\u2019t really do that in skating. You\u2019ve gotta have some control to it. She couldn\u2019t really grasp that part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Plus, Summer didn\u2019t like the judging aspect. In swimming, she didn\u2019t have to deal with that. All racing comes down to is touching the wall first, and as McIntosh did that more and more, she started drawing eyes across Canada.<\/p>\n
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\n At 14, Summer McIntosh just missed the podium in two events at the Tokyo Olympics, held in 2021. She\u2019s since shot to the top of the sport. (Francois-Xavier Marit \/ AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
MacLean Campbell came up through the Etobicoke Swim Club, just as McIntosh did after her. In the years after the 2016 Olympics, MacLean Campbell occasionally popped by practices. She remembers standing behind the blocks one day as her former coach, the late Kevin Thorburn, excitedly pointed out an 11-year-old McIntosh cutting through the water.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was bragging to me about all the times she was hitting,\u201d MacLean Campbell recalled. \u201c\u2018How cool is this? This is what she was able to do in this set that you used to do! I can\u2019t believe she\u2019s so young!’\u201d<\/p>\n
Before long, people far outside Canada knew she was coming. At 14, she made the Tokyo Olympics, which were delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Though she narrowly missed the podium, finishing fourth in both the 400-meter freestyle and 4\u00d7200-meter freestyle relay, she established herself as one of the brightest young swimmers in the world. And the experience, in her eyes, was invaluable. She got a sense of how international meets work behind the scenes \u2014 going through the processes of media and drug testing, for example \u2014 and \u201cwas like a sponge\u201d observing her idols on deck.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing 19, looking at my 14-year-old self, I couldn\u2019t be more proud of what I did,\u201d she said. \u201cI couldn\u2019t care less about not having a medal there. That was, I think, the perfect scenario. Not getting that medal just left me so much hungrier into the following year.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\n For Summer McIntosh, the 2024 Olympics brought a major breakout on the biggest stage. She won three golds and a silver in Paris. (Jonathan Nackstrand \/ AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
That hunger propelled her to the top of her sport. Two golds at worlds the next summer. Two more in 2023. Then, finally, a massive showing at the 2024 Olympics: golds in the 200-meter butterfly<\/a>, 200-meter individual medley<\/a> and 400-meter IM<\/a>, plus a silver in the 400-meter freestyle. The meet showcased two of McIntosh\u2019s greatest strengths: her versatility and her penchant for rising to the occasion. MacLean Campbell says she could probably \u201cbe world-class in double-digit events\u201d if meet schedules allowed for it.<\/p>\n By the end of the Paris Games, McIntosh was known around Canada. MacLean Campbell said that while she makes sure to say swimmers\u2019 full names when talking to non-niche fans in Canada, with McIntosh, \u201cSummer\u201d suffices.<\/p>\n In December 2024, a few months after the Olympics, McIntosh was back in the Toronto area, shopping at a mall. Suddenly she noticed a police officer approaching her. She grew nervous. Had she accidentally done something wrong?<\/p>\n No. The cop had recognized her and wanted to say hello.<\/p>\n McIntosh doesn\u2019t like the word \u201csacrifice.\u201d When she was a little younger, she sometimes viewed what she gave up for swimming that way: Seeing her friends less often or going to school in person, for example. But not nowadays.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s just the steps I have to take to be able to reach the goals I want to do,\u201d McIntosh said.<\/p>\n Moving away from family \u2014 from Toronto to Sarasota, Fla., for training in 2022 \u2014 is an exception. \u201cThat is truly a sacrifice,\u201d she said. But forgoing parts of a standard 19-year-old\u2019s life? That\u2019s just part of the deal.<\/p>\n \n Summer McIntosh (left) has surpassed American legend Katie Ledecky (right) in the 400-meter freestyle, which they\u2019re due to contest again this week. (Maddie Meyer \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n![\"Summer](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-2163961724-scaled.jpg\")
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