After Illness Costs World Cup Campaign, Summer McIntosh ‘Feeling Great’
Summer McIntosh says she’s “feeling great” after an illness kept her out of the three-week World Aquatics World Cup series.
McIntosh shared her experience in an interview with CBC Sports. A headache two days before the first World Cup stop in Carmel, Indiana, led to two weeks of doctors visits, several ER trips and a lumbar puncture that left her with complications.
“I knew something was off and I had a slew of other symptoms,” McIntosh said. “I was in and out of the ER a few times, and they ran a bunch of tests and they couldn’t really figure out what it was. They thought it was mono; it wasn’t mono. They thought it was the flu or COVID, and there was none of that.
“So then my third time going to the ER they had to test me for what they thought might have been viral meningitis. Thank goodness it wasn’t, but to do that test they had to do a lumbar puncture.”
The testing led her being in bed for more than a week, while a slew of world records were broken in Carmel, Westmont, Ill., and her home country stop in Toronto.
Not being able to compete, particularly at the latter, was difficult for her, especially seeing countryman Josh Liendo set a world record in the 100 fly.
“It really sucks in the timing of it just because I really wanted to compete at the World Cups and especially wanted to do that last stop in Toronto and swim in front of a home crowd,” she said. “Seeing what Josh did was absolutely incredible and of course all the Canadian women as well. I’ve been in touch with them, texting them; I miss everyone. It’s just amazing to see Canadian sports on the rise right now. It’s just so inspiring to see, and I hope that we continue this momentum which I think we will for sure.”
McIntosh is back in Austin, her new training base at the University of Texas. She’s planning to compete at the U.S. Open in Austin in December.
Read the rest of the interview with CBC Sports.
