Summer McIntosh has capped off one of the most impressive swimming meets ever by setting another world junior and Canadian record at the national trials.
A night after an electrifying world record-breaking swim in the 400-metre individual medley, McIntosh powered her way to another memorable swim, this time in the 200m freestyle.
The 16-year-old phenom lowered her record with a time of 1:53.91 on Sunday night at the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre.
“I mean I’m pretty exhausted at this point but it’s been a lot of fun to compete in my home pool with all the Canadians in the stands, and honestly the only reason I can do this is because of everyone surrounding me, my teammates, friends, family and my coaches,” McIntosh said.
“It was pretty hard. I tried to leave it all in the pool. Overall I’m pretty happy with the race. There are always things to improve on but to finish this week this way I’m overall happy.”
More records fall at Canadian swim trials courtesy of Summer McIntosh
Summer McIntosh broke the Canadian and world junior record Sunday, this time in the 200 metre freestyle event clocking a time of 1:53.91.
In her five events this week, McIntosh broke five world junior and Canadian records, including two world records.
“Learning how to recover in between events with this big lineup. It’s not just recovering physically but mentally too. You don’t want to get too high or too long because that can really distract you. You just want to stay as chill as possible,” McIntosh said.
Worlds roster finalized
After a week of extraordinary performances, not only by McIntosh but many other athletes, Swimming Canada finalized its roster for worlds this upcoming July in Fukuoka, Japan.
Canada is sending one of its most competitive teams ever to a swimming world championships, including 31 athletes.
The talent is jaw-dropping and the depth in the program is unparalleled — nine Canadian records were broken throughout the six days of competition in Toronto.
Along with McIntosh other household names include Olympic champion Maggie Mac Neil, most decorated FINA swimmer Kylie Masse, rising star and NCAA champion Josh Liendo, 18-year-old Ilya Kharun as well as Katerine Savard who is making her sixth world championship appearance for Canada.
Here is the full list:
Javier Acevedo — Toronto
Sophie Angus — Weston, Conn.
Jeremy Bagshaw — Victoria
Eric Brown — Pointe-Claire, Que.
James Dergousoff — Christina Lake, B.C.
Brooklyn Douthwright — Riverview, N.B.
Emma Finlin — Mississauga, Ont.
Edouard Fullum-Huot — Montreal
Ruslan Gaziev — Moscow
Collyn Gagne — Milton, Ont.
Mary-Sophie Harvey — Trois-Rivières, Que.
Hanna Henderson — Mississauga, Ont.
Patrick Hussey — Montreal
Ella Jansen — Burlington, Ont.
Ilya Kharun — Montreal
Finlay Knox — Okotoks, Alta.
Josh Liendo — Markham, Ont.
Maggie Mac Neil — London, Ont.
Kylie Masse — LaSalle, Ont.
Summer McIntosh — Toronto
Hugh McNeill — Langley, B.C.
Emma O’Croinin — Edmonton
Penny Oleksiak — Toronto
Sydney Pickrem — Clearwater, Fla.
Taylor Ruck — Kelowna, B.C.
Katerine Savard — Pont-Rouge, Que.
Brayden Taivassalo — Markham, Ont.
Lorne Wigginton — Calgary
Ingrid Wilm — Norwich, England
Kelsey Wog — Winnipeg
Mabel Zavaros — Burlington, Ont.
“Team is looking awesome. We’re looking good. Last year I showed the world that I can compete at the highest level. Now it’s about going back there and improving on that performance,” Liendo said.
Liendo set a Canadian record in the 50m fly in a time of 23.27 to finish his competition on Sunday night.
“It’s been so much fun. It was just good to be back,” he said.
“Last year bronze and silvers. But the goal is to be at the top of the podium and I’m going to keep working and keep fighting to get there.”
Josh Liendo sets another new Canadian record, this time in 50 metre butterfly
Toronto’s Josh Liendo swam to a new national record time of 23.27 in the 50 metre butterfly at the Canadian swim trials Sunday.
High performance director John Atkinson has called this the golden generation of Canadian swimming.
“Like I said at the beginning, it’s here and it’s now and it’s coming to Fukuoka, Japan this summer,” Atkinson said.
“Everyone can enjoy this moment and enjoy the celebratory feeling of making a Canadian team going to the world championships, which is always special.”
But for as good as the Canadian swimmers and Atkinson are feeling right now, it’s back to business in short order to start preparing for worlds.
“I think this team is competitive. When you look at the selections you’ll see we have really established athletes and new athletes. I think there are few areas to get back on track,” he said.
Last summer at the world championships in Budapest Canadian swimmers won an historic 11 medals, including breaking five Canadian records.
Many are still talking about McIntosh’s performance at these trials.
The Toronto native started the event by breaking the 400m freestyle world record, stopping the clock in a time of 3:56.08, breaking the record held by Ariarne Titmus of Australia.
McIntosh is the first swimmer in history to hold both the 400m freestyle and 400m individual medley long course world records at the same time.
Experience Summer McIntosh’s 2nd world record poolside, with her family in the stands
Canadian Summer McIntosh broke the world record in the 400m IM at the swim trials in Toronto, her second world record of the week.
On Thursday night, McIntosh broke her own world junior record in the 200m individual medley. Her time of 2:06.89 yesterday would have won gold at worlds last summer. It also would have won gold at the Tokyo Olympics by more than a second.
On Friday night, McIntosh set a world junior and Canadian record in the 200m butterfly.
Her time of 2:04.70 took down her previous record time (2:05.05) set earlier this month.
The swimmer that has been called a once in a generation talent has certainly lived up to that billing after an unforgettable national trials.
“It’s amazing to have all the Canadians in the stands. I feel all of their support and I just want to say thank you to everyone for supporting me and cheering me on. It really does mean the world,” McIntosh said.
Live the moment poolside, when Summer McIntosh broke the 400m freestyle world record
Feel as though you are right next to Summer McIntosh as she breaks her first world record at 16 years old, at the Canadian national swimming trials.
Now she has her sights set on the world championships.
Her Sarasota Sharks coach Brent Arckey has been named to the Canadian support staff.
“I’m there for Summer. I’m there to help Canada be the best they possibly can be. I’ll be the guy who will do whatever anybody needs. I’m there to help Summer work through a big problem and also there to help the team,” he said.
“My job as the coach is to have high expectations and help her dream big, and we’ve had some great conversations about doing great things. I’m just proud of her and how she’s managed all of this.”
Arckey says this was optimal preparation for worlds.
“Really special. We have a 16-year-old girl here that every time she gets in the water we have super high expectations. We should all be super proud of her and what she’s doing for her country,” he said.
“We had to come to a six-day swim meet, swim multiple things and we’ll go and evaluate next week. I’m already thinking about some things and I’m sure she is too. We’ll put our heads together and figure out how we’re going to make ourselves better for worlds.”
Summer McIntosh shatters records at national swimming trials
Summer McIntosh stuns the swimming world, breaking records in multiple events at the national swimming trials. The teenager is just one of the world-class talents competing on the Canadian women’s team thanks to the success of a system that finds talent early and helps to develop it.
Other results
Savard won a close battle with Masse in the women’s 50 butterfly, beating the fellow Tokyo Olympian by just 0.03 seconds with a time of 26.56.
Javier Acevedo wrapped up a strong week by topping the podium in the men’s 200 freestyle (1:47.72). The 25-year-old from Toronto lowered his Canadian record in the men’s 50 backstroke to 24.90 on Wednesday.
Sunday’s Para winners were Shelby Newkirk in the women’s 100 backstroke multi-class (1:21.06) and Nicholas Bennett in the men’s 100 backstroke multi-class (1:02.57).
Eric Brown won the men’s 1,500 freestyle in 15:26.85 for his third national title of the week, while Mabel Zavaros won the women’s 800 freestyle (8:38.17).
2023 Canadian Swimming Trials: Day 6 finals
Watch the finals on the sixth day of the 2023 Canadian Swimming Trials from Toronto.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — DeMar DeRozan scored 27 points in a record-setting performance and the Sacramento Kings beat the Toronto Raptors 122-107 on Wednesday night.
Domantas Sabonis added 17 points, 13 assists and 11 rebounds for his third triple-double of the season for Sacramento. He shot 6 for 6 from the field and 5 for 5 at the free-throw line.
Keegan Murray chipped in with 22 points and 12 rebounds, and De’Aaron Fox scored 21.
The 35-year-old DeRozan has scored at least 20 points in each of his first eight games with the Kings, breaking a franchise mark established by Chris Webber when he reached 20 in his first seven games with Sacramento in 1999.
DeRozan spent the past three seasons with the Chicago Bulls. The six-time All-Star also has played for Toronto and San Antonio during his 16-year NBA career.
RJ Barrett had 23 points to lead the Raptors. Davion Mitchell scored 20 in his first game in Sacramento since being traded to Toronto last summer.
Takeaways
Raptors: Toronto led for most of the first three quarters before wilting in the fourth. The Raptors were outscored 33-14 in the final period.
Kings: Fox played strong defense but struggled again shooting from the floor as he is dealing with a finger injury. Fox went 5 for 17 and just 2 of 8 on 3-pointers. He is 5 for 25 from beyond the arc in his last three games.
Key moment
The Kings trailed 95-89 early in the fourth before going on a 9-0 run that gave them the lead for good. DeRozan started the spurt with a jumper, and Malik Monk scored the final seven points.
Key stat
Sabonis had the eighth game in the NBA since at least 1982-83 with a triple-double while missing no shots from the field or foul line. The previous player to do it was Josh Giddey for Oklahoma City against Portland on Jan. 11.
Up next
Raptors: At the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday night, the third stop on a five-game trip.
VANCOUVER – The Vancouver Whitecaps are one win away from moving on to the next round of the Major League Soccer playoffs.
To get there, however, the Whitecaps will need to pull off the improbable by defeating the powerhouse Los Angeles FC for a second straight game.
Vancouver blanked the visitors 3-0 on Sunday to level their best-of-three first-round playoff series at a game apiece. As the matchup shifts back to California for a decisive Game 3 on Friday, the Whitecaps are looking for a repeat performance, said striker Brian White.
“We take the good and the bad from last game, learn from what we could have done better and go to LAFC with confidence and, obviously, with a whole lot of respect,” he said.
“We know that we can go there and give them a very good fight and hopefully come away with a win.”
The winner of Friday’s game will face the No. 4-seed Seattle Sounders in a one-game Western Conference semifinal on Nov. 23 or 24.
The ‘Caps finished the regular season eighth in the west with a 13-13-8 record and have since surprised many with their post-season play.
First, Vancouver trounced its regional rivals, the Portland Timbers, 5-0 in a wild-card game. Then, the squad dropped a tightly contested 2-1 decision to the top-seeded L.A. before posting a decisive home victory on Sunday.
Vancouver has scored seven goals this post-season, second only to the L.A. Galaxy (nine). Vancouver also leads the league in expected goals (6.84) through the playoffs.
No one outside of the club expected the Whitecaps to win when the Vancouver-L. A. series began, said defender Ranko Veselinovic.
“We’ve shown to ourselves that we can compete with them,” he said.
Now in his fifth season with the ‘Caps, Veselinovic said Friday’s game will be the biggest he’s played for the team.
“We haven’t had much success in the playoffs so, definitely, this is the one that can put our season on another level,” he said.
This is the second year in a row the Whitecaps have faced LAFC in the first round of the playoffs and last year, Vancouver was ousted in two straight games.
The team isn’t thinking about revenge as it prepares for Game 3, White said.
“More importantly than (beating LAFC), we want to get to the next round,” he said. “LAFC’s a very good team. We’ve come up against them a number of times in different competitions and they always seem to get the better of us. So it’d be huge for us to get the better of them this time.”
Earning a win last weekend required slowing L.A.’s transition game and limiting offensive opportunities for the team’s big stars, including Denis Bouanga.
Those factors will be important again on Friday, said Whitecaps head coach Vanni Sartini, who warned that his team could face a different style of game.
“I think the most important thing is going to be to match their intensity at the beginning of the game,” he said. “Because I think they’re going to come at us a million miles per hour.”
The ‘Caps will once again look to captain Ryan Gauld for some offensive firepower. The Scottish attacking midfielder leads MLS in playoff goals with five and has scored in all three of Vancouver’s post-season appearances this year.
Gearing up for another do-or-die matchup is exciting, Gauld said.
“Knowing it’s a winner-takes-all kind of game, being in that kind of environment is nice,” he said. “It’s when you see the best in players.”
LAFC faces the bulk of the pressure heading into the matchup, Sartini said, given the club’s appearances in the last two MLS Cup finals and its 2022 championship title.
“They’re supposed to win and we are not,” the coach said. “But it’s beautiful to have a little bit of pressure on us, too.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2024.
Each PWHL team operated under its city name, with players wearing jerseys featuring the league’s logo in its inaugural season before names and logos were announced last month.
The Toronto Sceptres, Montreal Victoire, Ottawa Charge, Boston Fleet, Minnesota Frost and New York Sirens will start the PWHL’s second season on Nov. 30 with jerseys designed to reflect each team’s identity and to be sold to the public as replicas.
Led by PWHL vice-president of brand and marketing Kanan Bhatt-Shah, the league consulted Creative Agency Flower Shop to design the jerseys manufactured by Bauer, the PWHL said Thursday in a statement.
“Players and fans alike have been waiting for this moment and we couldn’t be happier with the six unique looks each team will don moving forward,” said PWHL senior vice president of business operations Amy Scheer.
“These jerseys mark the latest evolution in our league’s history, and we can’t wait to see them showcased both on the ice and in the stands.”
Training camps open Tuesday with teams allowed to carry 32 players.
Each team’s 23-player roster, plus three reserves, will be announced Nov. 27.
Each team will play 30 regular-season games, which is six more than the first season.
Minnesota won the first Walter Cup on May 29 by beating Boston three games to two in the championship series.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
