Toronto's Summer McIntosh victorious in 200-metre butterfly at Olympic trials

TORONTO — Summer McIntosh is excited for a run to the Paris Olympics that differs from her last some three years ago.

The 17-year-old emerged victorious once again, winning the women's 200-metre butterfly at the Olympic & Paralympic Trials on Saturday night. McIntosh finished with a world-leading time of two minutes 4.33 seconds to go under the Olympic qualifying time of 2:08.43.

It's the fourth event in which the Toronto native has gone under qualifying time at the trials. She's scheduled to compete in the 200 individual medley event on Sunday's final day of competition.

She was dominant in her 400-metre freestyle victory on Monday and followed it up the next night with a comfortable win in the 200 free. She then broke her own world record in the 400 individual medley on Thursday.

"It's so exciting, my last Olympics I just did freestyle events," McIntosh said. "So being able to come back to doing my favourite events which is more IM (and) fly-based, along with every style still, is really fun just to kind of see how to balance all of it together."

McIntosh's Olympic debut in Tokyo as a 14-year-old attracted the eyes of many and she has only become a bigger star since then with eight world championship medals (four gold, one silver, three bronze) between 2022 and 2023.

McIntosh won gold in both the 200 butterfly and 400 IM at the 2023 world aquatics championships in Fukuoka, Japan.

External pressure or expectations are of no issue to her, though.

"I mean, I think I'm getting used to it at this point," McIntosh said. "I don't really think of others' expectations because it's really irrelevant to what I do in training and racing and things like that.

"I don't really hear any of the outside noise when I'm at a pool like this, all I hear is the support and the screaming from the stands so that's what I try to focus on."

Competing in as many events as she does, however, is still something she's working on perfecting in multiple ways, including recovery.

"Being a multi-event swimmer and trying to balance all of it definitely takes a lot of practice and I haven't quite mastered it yet, but the more meets that I do more main events in, in all different kinds of orders and situations is where I learn the most."

Mabel Zavaros of Burlington, Ont., finished second to McIntosh in 2:11.85.

There were two Canadian records set in the men's events with a pair of Olympic qualifications.

Josh Liendo of Markham, Ont., broke his own mark of 21.61 from 2022 with a 21.48 performance in the 50-metre freestyle.

The 21-year-old had already gone under the Olympic qualifying time of 21.96 with a 21.72 second-showing in preliminaries earlier in the day.

It was the second event he qualified himself for the Paris Games, having done so in the 100 freestyle on Thursday. He is set to compete in the 100 butterfly, which he earned silver at the 2023 world championships.

"It feels good, those are my main events," Liendo said. "It feels good to be able to go fast in them and execute things the way I want to because, obviously, I'm gonna have to execute really well come the Olympic Games."

Finlay Knox of Okotoks, Alta., the reigning world champion in the 200 individual medley, broke his own record of 1:56.64 by stopping the clock at 1:56.07 in the event.

"Everything is used to build confidence," he said. "One thing I've learned this last year is take every bit of confidence you can get. Celebrate the small wins, celebrate the big wins.

"Tonight's a big win, winning the world championship was a big win and just using it as a fuel to the fire and every time I step out now, knowing what I'm capable of doing."

Julia Strojnowska, who is committed to the University of Auburn for this coming fall, won the women's 800 freestyle in 8:38.36. The Olympic qualifying time for the event was 8:26.71.

In para-swimming, Reid Maxwell reset his previous S8 Canadian record of 1:09.48.

The 16-year-old from St. Albert, Alta., finished with a time of 1:08.86 in the men's 100 backstroke.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 18, 2024.

Abdulhamid Ibrahim, The Canadian Press