Summer McIntosh honored by Swimming Canada after impressive 2023 season

Summer McIntosh was honored with the Female Swimmer of the Year award by Swimming Canada for the year 2023. It was a memorable year for McIntosh which saw the 17-year-old establish two world records (WR) in the women’s 400m freestyle and 400m individual medley (IM), and five Canadian records.

Besides this, she was also named the Junior Female Swimmer of the Year for 2023 by the Canadian swimming governing body. She also achieved five junior WRs in the 200m freestyle, 400m freestyle, 200m butterfly, 200m IM, and 400 IM, which were also national records.

On their X (Twitter) handle, Swimming Canada reported the same with a press release, stating:

“After breaking 🌎 records and taking World Champ titles it’s no surprise that Summer McIntosh takes home both Swimming Canada’s Female Swimmer of the Year and Junior Female Swimmer of the year awards.”

Summer McIntosh began her 2023 by defeating legendary Katie Ledecky in the women’s 200m freestyle final with a time of 1:54.13, smashing the national record by Taylor Ruck, at the 2023 Pro Swim Series event in Fort Lauderdale.

During the Canadian Swimming trials, she attained her first World record in the women’s 400m freestyle, clocking 3:56.08 seconds, later broken by Ariarne Titmus in the 2023 World Championships.

McIntosh went on to shatter the 400m IM WR with a time of 4:25.87, breaking Katinka Hosszú’s previous mark set at the 2016 Summer Olympics. This made her the first swimmer to hold both 400m freestyle and 400m IM long course world records simultaneously.

At the 2023 World Aquatics Championships in Japan, McIntosh successfully defended her 200m butterfly, and 400m IM titles, clocking 2:04.06, and 4:27.11.

With this, she became the first Canadian swimmer to hold four world titles in the history of the World Championships. Additionally, she clinched two bronze medals in the 200m freestyle and 4X100m medley relay events.

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Summer McIntosh named her cat after Michael Phelps

Summer McIntosh in the women's 200 Meter Individual Medley prelims at the TYR Pro Swim Series Knoxville. (Photo by Alex Slitz/Getty Images)

In a recent interview, Summer McIntosh revealed that her admiration for Michael Phelps led her to name her cat, Mikey, after him. She even watched his eight gold medal-winning performances from the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

On being asked about the quality that she learned from the greatest swimmer of all time, McIntosh responded:

“Even when you lack motivation on a day, you can still be disciplined and get the task done.”

McIntosh started her 2024 at the 2024 Pro Swim Series in Knoxville where she clinched titles in the women’s 200m freestyle, IM, and Butterfly events.