Canadian swimming sensation Summer McIntosh may already be rewriting the record books, but her coach Bob Bowman believes the 19-year-old hasn’t even come close to hitting her ceiling yet.
McIntosh captured her fourth long-course world record at the Canadian trials on Sunday, breaking Liu Zige’s long-standing mark in the 200-metre butterfly final with an impressive performance in Montreal.
The three-time Olympic champion joined Bowman’s professional training program at the University of Texas last year, following the world championships in Singapore where she took home four individual titles.
Despite her already dominant presence in the sport, Bowman told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation at the trials that her absolute best is still ahead of her.
“I think she’s entering it, probably in the next four years,” he said. “I think she can be stronger. There are a lot of things that we can add to help her be faster … just in terms of her physiological maturity kind of now and in the next few years.”
McIntosh has set world records at every Canadian trials going back to 2023, a streak Bowman attributes to her love of competing in front of her home country’s fans.
“She loves it. It’s a great environment for her,” Bowman said. “Number one, there’s so much support from the whole country here. She doesn’t get that a lot. She swims in America most of the time or other places. So I think that’s important.”
On Monday, McIntosh won the 400-metre individual medley with a time of four minutes, 27.35 seconds — more than three seconds off her own world record of 4:23.65. She said she was disappointed with the result and planned to review her data to figure out where things went wrong.
One highlight that did bring a smile to her face was seeing all-time great Michael Phelps post a congratulatory message on her Instagram after the butterfly world record.
“Of course, he’s like my main inspiration always. So that was really cool to see,” McIntosh said.
