From the SwimSwam Magazine Vault: One Year of Summer

This article originally appeared in the 2022 Year in review edition of SwimSwam Magazine. Subscribe to the SwimSwam Magazine here.

ONE YEAR OF SUMMER

Maybe it’s because of the absence of the braces on her teeth and the suntan. Maybe it’s just because 12 extra months on the face of a 16-year-old have a different impact, but it takes some concentration to find her. The person in the photos taken during the International Swimming League in Naples in October 2021 and the person on the other side of my screen, in September 2022, are hard to recognize.

Indeed, it is Summer McIntosh, the athlete who rewrote many pages of the swimming record book over the last season.

So where to start to tell the story of a season full of commitments, competitions, results, and successes? Luckily, it was Summer who made a selection of highlights for us.

“It’s kind of crazy to think that was all in the same season. ISL was really fun at the start of the season to get a lot of racing in a different way compared to other big meets and to do it short course meters. It was a bit different for me, and I learned a lot from racing. At the same time, the dynamic was so fun on deck and I really enjoyed that. 

“And then I’d say another main highlight of my season was the 200 fly at Worlds, just because that was my first individual gold medal on the world stage. That was a huge deal for me and a huge barrier to break, and I’ll probably remember it for the rest of my life just because it was like a very surreal moment. 

“And then I really liked the Commonwealth Games — especially the last night when I had to do the 400 freestyle, and then 10 minutes later I had to do the 4×2100 freestyle relay. And I had never really done something like that before. And I was kind of nervous to do two really big races back-to-back, and I was the anchor for the relay, so I had a lot of pressure going. But I knew that the girls would take care of it — it was just a really fun night. 

“And the 400 freestyle. I was really happy with the time, even though I didn’t think I was going to be able to go break the 4-minute barrier again, and I did. So that was really exciting for me, especially to do that on the last night compared to what I did at Worlds that was on the first night, and then to be able to put down a pretty good 100 freestyle time. I was kind of surprised by that.”

Surprised? Summer McIntosh describes herself as “surprised” by the results in the 2021-2022 season. Two world titles, world junior records in four different events, and six medals at the Commonwealth Games. Certainly, the world of swimming was surprised, but was there anything about all this that was planned a year ago?

“Throughout my career, I haven’t really had certain expectations I set for myself because I feel like there’re a lot of unknowns. You don’t really know where you’re going to end up, and you can only really dream of what you want to achieve rather than what you will be able to. So, I was more just thinking about the process of working hard as I did throughout my career and just continuing on with little goals throughout the season. And, obviously, I didn’t think I would end up where I did last season. I didn’t think I’d improve that much again after the season before with the Olympics and everything. So, I was really happy that I continued to improve and continued my momentum going into the season as well.”

One season, two big meets. Some athletes had decided to focus on just one competition, but Summer McIntosh and the Canadian team had not.

“Worlds long course and Commonwealth Games were very close, and I didn’t really know how to react to that when it came. So, I didn’t really know what I was going to be able to do and how I was going to be able to handle that. But I thought I did a pretty good job at it, and my coaches really collaborated and really helped me get to be able to perform at my best at both meets. So, I was really happy with my results, and I think I felt better at Commonwealth than I did at the Worlds just because I had more experience and kind of understood it, and I just really like the Commonwealth Games in general. So, yeah, it’s definitely a long season that obviously comes with a lot of emotions and ups and downs, and you’ve got to be really focused for all of them. So as long as you focus on the days rather than the whole season, obviously you have to know what meets you’re going to and make sure you are prepared for all of it, but at the same time just take it day by day.”

Some athletes place all their hopes for glory in a single event, and others (a few others) have another dilemma: selecting the best racing program.

“I have to just think what’s going to be the best for all my events, what’s going to make me be able to recover the most, but at the same time not taking too many events away so that I’m not able to achieve my best in all events. So, when that comes to, like, maybe you don’t enter in an event that you would really want to do because it’s on the same day as another really big event. So, you have to make that really hard. Especially with the semifinals in the 200 freestyle, it’s really hard to do all of the events that I want to do at big meets. I think it’s good to be able to do a lot of events at one meet, but at the same time not doing too many. So, you can’t still perform at your best at each one.

“I think I’m more of a middle-distance swimmer, and my main events right now are the 400 free, 200 fly, 200 free, 200 IM and maybe a few others, I don’t know. But anything can change. Maybe I improve more in one event or the other, or I don’t improve as much, so it’s all about choosing and making sure that my training covers all my events, and making sure that I’m still able to reach my full potential in all of them, while still not taking away from one another.

“When it comes to choosing events to do, I don’t really look at how much other swimmers are good at events because I feel like, no matter what, I can only really control what I do. Everything can change day by day. I just have to keep focusing on myself and improving what I’m able to do and trying to continue to drop time. You’ve just got to do whatever you can to make yourself better. And that’s kind of what just makes the sport really simple. And that’s what I like about it.”

Summer McIntosh the world champion. Summer the adolescent. Summer the daughter, the athlete, the girl. Many different personalities or just one?

“I think I’m the same person. I don’t think it really changed me because, at the end of the day, it’s just a game. It’s just a sport. It’s just a kind of fun thing that I started off when I was 7 years old to do as an activity outside of school. But, obviously, it is a really big deal in order to get a World gold medal. But I don’t think it should ever change an athlete because it’s just that you are the best on that day, and it doesn’t really mean that you’re going to be the best in the future or whatever. So, I think it’s just you have to kind of stay grounded when it comes to things like that, and realize that it is such that you should really pat yourself on the back for what you’re able to achieve, but not let it kind of change who you are within.

“Family is everything to me. I think everyone has to have a good family when it comes to things like this. You have to have a good support system. And I’m so grateful to have so many friends and family and coaches and teammates and all of Team Canada surrounding me. And everyone’s so supportive of each other. And people like other athletes on the Canadian team really understand where others are coming from when it comes to things like that. But, of course, family is my number one and will always be. And they’ve been able to keep me grounded and keep me happy, and keep me enjoying the process and balancing my life along with my school and my friends and just my normal life, or whatever. So, it’s really important when it comes to the top level of being an athlete to have a really good balance, and family and friends are really key to being able to maintain that.”

Speaking to Summer on the other side of the world and on the other side of a screen, she seems relaxed and fully in control of the situation. And this is the same feeling she gives to the public when she is behind the starting block. Like a veteran, but 16 years old.

“I think it’s really important to stay relaxed throughout your career, and not put too many expectations on yourself, because anything can change. I think the only expectations that you should put on yourself are what you should be able to do in practice and continue to work hard. And when it comes to little things like improving technique and more process things, rather than putting expectations to what time or what medal or what position you want at a big meet or things like that.

“I think that if you focus on the smaller things, you’ll get the bigger thing rather than if you just have a really big expectation in mind and you don’t really know how to get to it.

“I don’t really know. Like I hope to inspire even just one athlete or swimmer around the world to continue to do the sport that they love and just enjoy the process of it. And I think that also to inspire people to know that you don’t have to be a certain age to achieve your goals. I think you can do it at any age rather than if you’re younger than normal or older than normal. You can do it whenever you want, as long as you work hard and put your mind to it. So, I think that’s probably my main thing — just to inspire people to do what they want to do whenever.”