“I’ll learn from my splits and things to work on moving forward”- Summer McIntosh reflects on her performance at the 200m freestyle at 2023 WAC

Canadian swimmer Summer McIntosh looked back at her performance after winning the bronze medal at the 200m freestyle event at the 2023 World Aquatics Championship.

The 16-year-old competed in a neck-and-neck race against Australian swimmers Mollie O’Callaghan and Ariarne Titmus, who achieved first and second place, respectively.

On Wednesday, McIntosh swam a world junior record and a Canadian record with her time of 1:53.65. Initially, she was in the running to achieve the second position at the midway stage of the race. However, by the time the swimmer was in the final leg, she found herself competing for the third spot against Hong Kong’s Siobhan Haughey.

Summer McIntosh at Fukuoka 2023 World Aquatics Championships: Swimming - Day 3

Analyzing her performance at the 200m event, McIntosh spoke to Olympic.ca, and explained:

“It’s always nice to get on the podium again at my second world championships,’’ she said.

Furthermore, she talked about the lessons she learned from her experience:

"Overall, I was really happy with that race and the 200 free has always been a really fun race to go head-to-head. It was super close, so just learning from that and I’ll learn from my splits and things to work on moving forward," McIntosh added.

McIntosh’s competitors, Titmus and O’Callaghan, won the silver and gold with respective time-frames of 1:53.01s and 1:52:85s. The gold medallist O’Callaghan broke the longest-standing women’s world record in swimming, set by Italian Federica Pellegrini at the 2009 World Championships.

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Summer McIntosh opens up on her previous 400m freestyle event

Summer McIntosh at Toyota U.S. Open - Greensboro

Previously, Summer McIntosh had participated in the 400m freestyle event at the 2023 World Aquatics Championship. Also known as the ‘race of the century’, McIntosh competed against Ariarne Titmus and Katie Ledecky.

However, in that race, McIntosh managed to achieve only the fourth place, while Titmus and Ledecky clinched the first and second spots, respectively.

Recalling her experience at the 400m freestyle event, the 16-year-old said:

“I think there’s always things to learn and I think you learn the most when you have off races like that in the 400 free,’‘ McIntosh explained.

Furthermore, she pointed out the areas that she should work on and prepare better for going into the 2024 Paris Olympics:

"I learned a lot about how I swam it, where I went wrong, and also about my preparation before and where I can improve. It just gives me a lot of motivation and inspires me to push harder and even more heading into next year for Paris.’’

Summer McIntosh will next appear at the Women's 200m butterfly final on July 27.