Los Angeles Schedule Forces Choice for Summer McIntosh
There’s no shortage of options for Summer McIntosh when it comes to international meets. She’s won significant international medals in seven different events already in her career, and she’s still just 19.
The target for Los Angeles is five individual events after she won three individual golds and one silver in Paris in 2024. But part of the choice will be taken out of her hands.
Wednesday’s release of the swimming schedule for the 2028 Olympics lands the 200 butterfly and 800 freestyle on the same day, a conflict that likely forces the Canadian wunderkind to choose one or the other.
McIntosh swam four individuals events and the finals of three relays at each the Paris Olympics and 2023 World Championships. She shifted that to five individual events and one relay at Worlds in 2025. If she’s going to chase eight medals, it will take three relays.
McIntosh is little unlucky in the alignment of the 800 free heats and 200 fly heats on the same day and at the end of the meet, on the eighth and penultimate day. If she were to swim in the women’s medley relay, she’d already be facing a double in the last finals session on the afternoon of the closing day of the games. (In Paris, the finals overlapped a day earlier, on Day 8, without the medley relay.)
McIntosh swam the 400 free, 200 fly, 200 IM and 400 IM at the Paris Olympics. She won gold in both IMs and the 200 fly and silver in the 400 free.
At the 2025 World Championships, she swept gold medals in the 400 free, 200 fly, 200 IM and 400 IM to go with bronze in the 800 free. The 2023 World Championship program was the 200 and 400 free, 200 fly and 400 IM.
In Los Angeles, she could get the 400 free out of the way on the opening day, with prelims and finals. The women’s 400 free relay is also on that first night, but McIntosh won’t have a swim on the second day. (Prelims on that second day – Sunday, July 23 – are the 100 free and 100 breast for women.)
The 400 IM is similarly straightforward with prelims and finals on Day 3. She could have the 200 free prelims and semis on Day 4, then the morning off on Day 5 before the 200 free final.
The 200 IM begins on Day 6; like in the men’s competition, it’s grouped with the 200 back, which takes a dark horse event out of the picture for her. Day 6 also has the 800 free relay final at night.
On Day 7, she would likely eschew the mixed medley relay prelims in the morning to prep for the 200 IM final at night.
Day 8 brings the 200 fly and 800 free heats. The 200 fly has a semifinal that night. If McIntosh had inkling of attempting the double earlier in the meet, surely the women’s medley relay obviates that temptation. The final finals session is a shortened one, starting at 3 p.m. Pacific time ahead of the Closing Ceremony at 6. It’s the women’s 50 free, women’s 200 fly, women’s 800 free relay than the medley relays.
