Summer McIntosh Drops 200 Free From Paris Olympic Schedule; MacNeil Enters 100 Free

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Canadian sensation Summer McIntosh has pared down her schedule at the Paris Olympics by opting out of the women’s 200 freestyle, leaving her with four individual entries at the Games.

McIntosh was the 2023 World Championship bronze medalist in the 200 free, breaking the World Junior Record last summer in Fukuoka in a time of 1:53.65, but with the two fastest women ever set to contest the event in Paris, Australia’s Ariarne Titmus (current WR holder) and Mollie O’Callaghan (former WR holder), McIntosh figured to be racing for bronze.

Instead, McIntosh will tackle four events where gold, or at least silver, will be well within reach.

The clear-cut favorite in the 400 IM as the world record holder and two-time world champion, the 17-year-old is also arguably the favorite in the 200 fly as a two-time world champion, and in the 400 free, she’s the 2nd-fastest woman in history (and former WR holder), with Titmus the only swimmer to ever go faster than McIntosh’s PB of 3:56.08.

The 200 IM projects to be one of the best races of the Games, with reigning world champion Kate Douglass, 2022 world champion Alex Walsh, the fastest swimmer in the field Kaylee McKeown and McIntosh all capable of winning gold.

At the 2023 World Championships, the 200 IM was the event McIntosh took off her schedule, avoiding a conflict with the 200 fly semis.

In dropping the 200 free, McIntosh will now have Day 2 completely off, and won’t have to race the semis of the 200 free at the end of Day 3 finals after racing the 400 IM at the beginning of the session.

McIntosh’s Projected Paris Olympic Schedule

Relay prelims are listed in parentheses but don’t expect McIntosh to swim them.

Harvey To Race 400 Free, MacNeil In 100 Free

In addition to McIntosh opting out of the 200, there were a few other notable entry changes for the Canadian women in the freestyle events.

Mary-Sophie Harvey qualified to swim the 200 free and 100 fly individually in Paris, but has dropped the latter in favor of the 400 free.

Despite not racing it at the Canadian Trials, Harvey adds the 400 free to her program after she went under the Olympic Qualifying Time (4:07.90) at the Sette Colli Trophy in June (4:07.70).

In the 100 fly, Harvey’s withdrawal opens the door for Rebecca Smith to swim the event in Paris. Smith, who was named to the Canadian roster as a relay-only swimmer, placed 3rd in the 100 fly at Trials, under the OQT by three one-hundredths in 57.89.

With Harvey out, Smith is able to seamlessly slide into the 100 fly and no longer be a relay-only swimmer at the Games. Canada now has eight relay-only swimmers on its roster.

In the women’s 100 free, Canada will be represented by Maggie MacNeil, who won gold in the event at the 2023 Pan Am Games in a personal best of 53.64, just shy of the OQT (53.61) but well inside the Olympic Consideration Time (OCT) of 53.88.

Penny Oleksiak won the 100 free at the Canadian Trials in 53.66, which, since it was outside the OQT, made her a relay-only swimmer at the Games. As a relay-only swimmer, Oleksiak was unable to swim the 100 free in Paris since she hadn’t achieved the OQT (in any event).

MacNeil was able to add the 100 free despite only having the OCT because she qualified for the Games with an OQT in the 100 fly, the event in which she’s the defending Olympic champion.