Will teen swim star Summer McIntosh be at the 2024 Paris Olympics?
Summer McIntosh finished off a year that began with world titles, Commonwealth Games titles, and a triumph against Katie Ledecky by swimming the fourth-fastest 400m individual medley in history.
Summer McIntosh is very likely to compete at the Paris Olympics, although there has not been an official confirmation from her side yet. But looking at her recent records, she is definitely set to compete at the Paris games.
It's not just the Olympics in Tokyo that might be on her mind. McIntosh will be 17 years old for the Olympics in Paris in 2014 and 21 years old at the time of the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028.
McIntosh has advanced far in a short period of time. The one-year deferral of the Olympics proved advantageous. She put all of her eggs in the 1500m freestyle basket three years ago, thinking that was her best chance to at least get into the Tokyo Games in 2020.
Summer McIntosh's Life
Jill Horstead, an Olympian from 1984 who took home a bronze medal at the 1986 Commonwealth Games, is McIntosh's mother.
In Greensboro, North Carolina, McIntosh's mother finished first in 4 minutes, 28.61 seconds. She defeated her previous national record, which was the fourth-fastest time in history, by a margin equal to Ledecky's 13.24 seconds.
Brooke McIntosh, McIntosh's older sister, is an elite figure skater. At the 2020 Winter Youth Olympic Games (YOG) in Lausanne, Brooke McIntosh placed fourth, and the 2021 Junior Worlds, she and partner Benjamin Mimar earned bronze in the pairs competition.
McIntosh's Career so far
McIntosh has broken more than 50 age-group national swimming records. In May 2021, she established a world record for the fastest 400-meter freestyle time ever by a 14-year-old swimmer with a time of 4:05.13.
At the international championships in June, McIntosh—the youngest individual world champion since 2011—won the 200-meter butterfly and the 400-meter individual medley. She was also awarded the Ledecky silver in the 400m free, whom she later defeated her in a short-course race (25-meter pool rather than the 50-meter pool used for the Olympics).
At the 2021 Canadian Olympic swimming trials in Toronto, she overcame training partner Penny Oleksiak to win the 200-meter freestyle race in 1:56.19, a personal best and the fastest time ever set by a 14-year-old swimmer globally.
In the 200-meter fly and 400-meter medley events at the 2022 World Aquatics Championships, which were contested from June 18 to June 25, Summer McIntosh took home two gold medals. She further took home bronze and silver medals in the 400 and 4200 meters of freestyle.
The first Commonwealth Games McIntosh participated in were held in Birmingham, England, in 2022. She decided to forego the 200-meter butterfly race there in order to focus on other events, and on the first day of the tournament, she won gold in the 400-meter medley, raising her world junior, Commonwealth, and national records to 4:29.01. At the finish line, she beat Kiah Melverton by 7.77 seconds, earning the silver medal.
The following month at the 2022 U.S. Open Swimming Championships, Summer McIntosh won the gold medal in the 400-meter individual medley with a time that broke the US Open, Championships, and world junior records.