Swimming superstar Summer McIntosh will compete in the 2025 FINA World Aquatics Championships, beginning Thursday in Singapore.
Summer McIntosh was swimming practice laps at Saanich Commonwealth Place last month, a day after the Canadian trials in which she set three world records in that pool, when she received a phone call she will never forget.
She was hurriedly waved to the pool deck with a team manager handing her the phone. On the other end was American legend Michael Phelps.
“He was on the golf course with his son and he congratulated me. I had never spoken to him before. He was my childhood idol but he was so down to earth,” said McIntosh.
The Canadian superstar recalled the moment during a media call Wednesday ahead of the upcoming World Aquatics Championships in Singapore.
The Toronto native now trains with Phelps’ former coach, Bob Bowman, in Austin, Texas. There was another uncanny connection to the call as Olympic multi-medallist Phelps also knows Saanich Commonwealth Place well, having set three world records there in the 2006 Pan Pacific championships.
“Talking to [Phelps] gave me even more motivation,” said McIntosh, a multi-medallist in the 2024 Paris Olympics last summer.
To gauge McIntosh’s stature, Wednesday’s call was ostensibly for the Canadian media, but it was joined by sports writers from around the world who are following her quest for five gold medals at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
“It’s all about the Olympic cycle. The world championships [there are two ahead of Los Angeles, this year in Singapore, and in 2027 in Budapest] are a good run-through,” said McIntosh. “L.A. is already in the back of my mindset. I’ll see if I can do five [golds].”
McIntosh was hardly pushed by national competitors during her remarkable splash to three world records — in the 400-metre individual medley, 200 IM and 400 freestyle — during the Canadian trials at Saanich Commonwealth Place.
She also set two other Canadian records in the Saanich trials that were just off longstanding world marks, in the 800 freestyle and 200 butterfly.
Asked what she will be capable of when pushed by the world-class field in Singapore, McIntosh said: “Especially in the 800 metres, I was in no-man’s land and lost pace [in Saanich].
“It will give you more of a bump [in Singapore] with so many girls swimming next to you who will be fighting for world championship medals.”
The 2025 FINA World Aquatics Championships, beginning Thursday, include pool and open-water swimming, diving, artistic swimming and water polo. Pool swimming runs July 27 to Aug. 3.
SWIM SPRAY:Saanich Commonwealth Place will again host the Canadian swim trials, for the 2027 FINA World Aquatics Championships, scheduled for Budapest. The 2028 Canadian Olympic swim trials for Los Angeles will be held at the Pan-Am Pool in Toronto.
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