How Canada’s record-smashing Summer McIntosh is chasing the legend of Michael Phelps

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Summer McIntosh’s first connection with the greatest swimmer of all time, cute and contrived as it was at the time, came when she was earlier in her teens and named her pet cat Mikey after the unparalleled swimming star, Michael Phelps.

Now the comparisons are growing stronger and more tangible.

After a record-setting week at the Canadian Trials in Victoria, B.C., there is now no doubt that the Etobicoke swimmer is the rising star of her sport. And here’s where the links to the great Phelps, the American legend, gets crazy.

McIntosh, the three-time gold-medal winner at last summer’s Paris Olympics, shattered three world records at the Commonwealth pool in an historic effort to prepare for this summer’s world championships in Singapore. Those powerful performances made her the first swimmer to claim three individual marks since Phelps did it in his tour de force 2008 Beijing Olympics, where he won eight golds.

As an 18-year-old, you certainly would expect that McIntosh’s best years are ahead of her. And, as much as Phelps’ record 23 Olympic golds seem out of reach, the links between the two elite athletes are about to get stronger. After the worlds in Singapore, McIntosh will move to Texas to train with Bob Bowman, who coached Phelps to all the success during his glorious career.

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And, with that, her relentless pursuit of medals and records could take another huge step forward.

“World records are made to be broken, so by the time I leave the sport I want to make sure that record was as fast as possible,” McIntosh said in a pool-side interview broadcast to the crowd in Victoria. “That really keeps me going because I know there’s always going to be the next generation of kids growing up and they’re going to be chasing the record.”

The latest world record came on Wednesday in her final event at the Trials when she eclipsed her own mark in the 400-metre individual medley in a time of 4:23.65. That clocking trimmed .73 off the record she had set at last year’s Olympic trials for a race she would claim gold in during the Paris Games.

Earlier in the meet, McIntosh won the 200 IM in 2:05.70, dropping the record of 2:06.12 by Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu that had been in place for nearly 10 years. The first record came in her opening race of the meet, a 3:54.18 clocking in the 400-metre freestyle.

Some observers will suggest that a near miss was one of her boldest wins, however. McIntosh’s winning time in the 200-metre butterfly on Tuesday was just .45 seconds off a record set by China’s Liu Zige in 2009, one of the longest-standing markers in the sport.

Her performance at the Trials validates a stellar year of training for McIntosh as she transitions into a new phase of her career. After parting ways with coach Brent Arckey in Sarasota, Fla., earlier in the year, she shifted to France where she has worked under renowned coach Fred Vergnoux to prepare for a big a summer competitive summer ahead. During that stint, McIntosh spent three weeks doing altitude training in the Pyrenees to further strengthen her endurance.

Following the worlds next month in Singapore, McIntosh will join the pro group under Bowman that already includes stars such as Leon Marchand of France and Americans Regan Smith and Simone Manuel.

Meanwhile, McIntosh’s stellar week in Victoria makes one wonder if her phenomenal success in Paris was in fact a touch underrated. The shallow pool at La Defense Arena became a mild controversy throughout the Olympic meet for the tardy times the waters yielded there and the dearth of world records to fall.

Swimming in the faster waters of the Commonwealth pool in B.C. has allowed McIntosh to unleash her speed and have it backed up on the timer.

There surely are other factors as well, including some natural physical maturation after another year of growth. The work in the Pyrenees can’t be discounted either, as McIntosh landed in Victoria ready for a series of huge performances.

“Going into tonight, I knew I could do something really special because this has probably been the best meet of my career,” McIntosh said on Wednesday.

Special, indeed. In fact, McIntosh’s extraordinary week in Victoria was one of the more accomplished stretches a Canadian athlete has ever unleashed.