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After winning three individual swimming gold medals at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris and a women’s-record-tying four at last year’s world championships in Singapore, Summer McIntosh has her sights set on something even bigger at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
The Canadian superstar wants to capture five solo golds, which would match the single-Games record for any sport. The only swimmer in history to do it is the great Michael Phelps, as part of his iconic eight-gold-medal haul in 2008 in Beijing.
But Summer can picture it. On a recent flight to southern California, she “got chills” when she caught a glimpse of SoFi Stadium, the massive high-tech football arena that will be converted into the largest swimming venue in Olympic history, holding around 38,000 fans.
“It was the coolest moment ever,” the 19-year-old from Toronto told CBC Sports’ Devin Heroux. “Flying over that stadium, I was just imagining what I hope to do there.”
This week, Summer’s path to glory in L.A. takes her to nearby Irvine, Calif., for the Pan Pacific championships.
Canadian swimming star McIntosh speaks with Devin Heroux ahead of the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in Irvine, California. Rested and recovered after her world record and subsequent illness at swim trials in Montreal, McIntosh shares her excitement about leading and setting a good example for her Canadian teammates.
Typically held every four years, the Pan Pacs are basically the rest of the world’s answer to the European championships, which are also taking place this week in Paris. They feature swimming superpowers Australia and the United States, and also the likes of Japan, Brazil, South Africa, China and, of course, Canada.
This year’s edition — the first since 2018, due to the Covid pandemic’s disruption of the swimming calendar — got underway yesterday with the 10-kilometre open-water events along the Pacific coast in Long Beach. 2024 Olympian Emma Finlin was the top Canadian, placing 13th in the women’s race.
The main action begins Wednesday in an outdoor pool in Irvine, where McIntosh headlines a team of 42 Canadians competing over four days.
The group also includes 26-year-old Taylor Ruck, who won all five of her events at last month’s Canadian trials in Montreal. Plus, breaststroke specialists Sophie Angus and Oliver Dawson and men’s 400m individual medley standout Lorne Wingginton, who each medalled at the recent Commonwealth Games in Scotland. Kylie Masse and Josh Liendo, Canada’s only two swimming gold medallists at the Commonwealths, are not involved in the Pan Pacs.
But all eyes will be on McIntosh, who’s scheduled to compete in four events (one each day) at her biggest meet of 2026. She’ll begin with the 200m freestyle on Wednesday, then do the 400m individual medley on Thursday, the 400m freestyle on Friday and the 200m individual medley on Saturday.
Swimming five events may have been a better test for McIntosh’s Olympic ambitions, but it would have meant doubling up on one of the days. So she nixed the 800m freestyle (an event she won bronze in at last year’s world championships but rarely races) and, more notably, the 200m butterfly, where she’s the reigning Olympic champ, has won three straight world titles and is now the world-record holder after taking down the longest-standing women’s mark on the books at the Canadian trials. Instead, she chose the 200m freestyle — a race she hasn’t done internationally since the 2023 world championships but could be on her radar for L.A.
“Training for the 200 freestyle kind of naturally worked into my training schedule on a weekly basis just because I’m a 400 freestyler,” said McIntosh, now coached by Phelps’ former trainer, the legendary Bob Bowman. “So it just kind of matches with my events perfectly.”
Summer holds the world record and is the reigning world champion in each of her other three events at the Pan Pacs. She won Olympic gold in 2024 in both of the medleys and took silver in the 400m freestyle.
Summer vs. Katie, and other international stars to watch
In the 400 free, McIntosh will renew her rivalry with American star Katie Ledecky, the most decorated women’s swimmer of all time. After Australia’s now-retired Ariarne Titmus beat them both for the Olympic gold in 2024, McIntosh defeated Ledecky for the world title last year. A few days later, Ledecky won their showdown in the 800 free, one of the American’s signature distances, as McIntosh faded to the bronze in a race that stretched the limits of her endurance.
Australia’s Lanni Pallister, who overtook McIntosh for the silver in that 800m thriller, will once again challenge Ledecky in both the 800 and the 1,500. Pallister took bronze in the latter at last year’s worlds, where Ledecky completed another 800/1,500 sweep.
The Aussie team also features Zac Stubblety-Cook, who owns an Olympic gold and silver in the men’s 200m breaststroke. But it will be without Kaylee McKeown, a back-to-back Olympic champion in both the 100m and 200m backstroke who is sidelined with a case of mono, and reigning Olympic and world 200m freestyle champ Mollie O’Callaghan, who is not able to face McIntosh due to a back injury.
Along with Ledecky, the United States’ top swimmers at the Pan Pacs include back-to-back Olympic men’s 1,500m gold medallist Bobby Finke, and sprinters Kate Douglass and Gretchen Walsh, who traded the women’s 50m freestyle world record in June. They’ll also square off in the 50m butterfly, while Walsh races the 100 fly and the versatile Douglass is scheduled for all three breaststroke distances and the 200m IM, though she’s unlikely to actually do them all. Olympic women’s 100m butterfly champ Torri Huske and Regan Smith, who won three solo silvers in Paris, are other Americans to watch.
How to watch
You can catch every race at the Pan Pacs live on the CBC Gem streaming app and on the CBC Sports website. Morning heats begin at 1 p.m. ET and the finals at 10 p.m. ET each day. Here’s a detailed schedule with exact start times for the finals.
