You are working on Staging1

Summer McIntosh Hits Fastest 15&U 200 Free In History At 14: 1:56.19

2021 CANADIAN OLYMPIC SWIMMING TRIALS

Age group stud Summer McIntosh absolutely stole the show on Night 2 of the Canadian Olympic Trials in Toronto, winning the women’s 200 freestyle over an experienced field in an astonishing time of 1:56.19 at just 14 years of age.

McIntosh’s time annihilates her previous Canadian 13-14 Age Group Record of 1:57.40, set in the prelims, having come into the day with a lifetime best of 1:57.65 from last month.

The Etobicoke Swim Club product now has, by all accounts, the fastest 200 freestyle time in history by a female swimmer aged 15 and under. McIntosh is currently 14, but will be turning 15 on August 18.

The next-fastest time on record for 14-year-olds, according to USA Swimming’s database, is a 1:56.46 from China’s Ai Yanhan in 2016.

The U.S. National Age Group Record in the 200 freestyle for 13-14 girls’ belongs to Sippy Woodhead, the 1984 Olympic silver medalist in the 400 free, who clocked 1:58.53 back in 1978. The only other American women that have cracked 1:59 before their 15th birthday are Claire Tuggle (1:58.58) and Missy Franklin (1:58.67).

All-Time 14 & Under Rankings, Girls 200 Freestyle (LCM)*

  1. Summer McIntosh (CAN), 1:56.19 – 2021
  2. Ai Yanhan (CHN), 1:56.46 – 2016
  3. Franziska Van Almsick, 1:57.90 – 1992
  4. Ajna Kesely (HUN), 1:57.96 – 2016
  5. Li Bingjie (CHN), 1:58.23 – 2016
  6. Qiu Yuhan (CHN), 1:58.50 – 2013
  7. Sippy Woodhead (USA), 1:58.53 – 1978
  8. Claire Tuggle (USA), 1:58.58 – 2018
  9. Missy Franklin (USA), 1:58.67 – 2009

Making this swim even more astounding is the fact that it would rank second all-time among in the U.S. 15-16 age group, with only Franklin (1:55.06). Katie Ledecky ranks second on that list in 1:56.32.

Looking solely at swimmers aged 15 and under, Ai’s 1:56.46 is currently ranked first, so McIntosh takes over that spot as well. The only other sub-1:57 on record for 15 and unders comes from China’s Li Bingjie, who clocked 1:56.74 when she was 15.

It was previously reported that Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom swam a time of 1:57.34 at the age of 14. Upon further research, Sjostrom’s swim was actually in 2009 when she was 15.

Racing head-to-head with defending 100 free Olympic champion Penny Oleksiak, along with 2019 World Championship relay medalists Rebecca Smith and Kayla Sanchez, McIntosh sat fourth at the 100m turn, and then picked things up on the third 50, splitting 30.01 to take over the race lead.

Then coming home it was all McIntosh, as she was the only swimmer back sub-30 in 29.43 to win by over a second and go well under the FINA ‘A’ time of 1:57.28.

McIntosh Split Comparison

McIntosh, May TT McIntosh, Trials Prelims McIntosh, Trials Finals
27.86 27.47 27.26
57.62 (29.76) 57.22 (29.75) 56.75 (29.49)
1:28.02 (30.40) 1:27.12 (29.90) 1:26.76 (30.01)
1:57.65 (29.63) 1:57.40 (30.28) 1:56.19 (29.43)

The victory solidifies McIntosh’s spot on the Canadian Olympic team, though she likely booked a ticket last night in the 400 free after no one in the final hit the qualifying time. More on that here.

Oleksiak finished second in 1:57.24, already having qualified for the Games in this event by virtue of her sixth-place finish at the 2019 World Championships. Smith (1:57.76) took third and Katerine Savard (1:57.79) was fourth, which should qualify them for the 800 free relay in Tokyo.

McIntosh now ranks as the second-fastest Canadian woman of all-time in the event, trailing only Taylor Ruck, who failed to advance to tonight’s final.

All-Time Canadian Rankings, Women’s 200 Freestyle (LCM)

  1. Taylor Ruck, 1:54.44 – 2018 Pan Pacific Championships
  2. Summer McIntosh, 1:56.19 – 2021 Canadian Olympic Trials
  3. Penny Oleksiak, 1:56.41 – 2019 World Championships
  4. Brittany Maclean, 1:56.94 – 2016 Canadian Olympic Trials
  5. Genevieve Saumur, 1:56.97 – 2009 World Championships

McIntosh moves into eighth in the world for the 2020-21 season, and notably swam six-tenths quicker than the time required to individually qualify for the event in the final of the U.S. Olympic Trials a few days ago.

In This Story

23
Leave a Reply

Subscribe
Notify of

23 Comments
newest
oldest most voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Coachdaggi
3 years ago

Franziska van Almsick should be on 4th place in the list above as she went a 1 57 90 in the heats of the Barcelona olympics in 1992… the same time as Haislett did in the finals to grab the win .

WhoGoesHere
3 years ago

Minor edit, but it changes 4 and 5 – Franziska van Almsick swam 1:57.90 in prelims at Barcelona Olympics; her 1:58.00 was from finals.

Sean C.
3 years ago

I’m bracing for a lot of “Summer” puns in Canadian media coverage.

Stefan
3 years ago

Swedish superstar Sarah Sjostrom was 1:57.34 at the age of 14 in 2008.”

Someone got a little carried away here. Sjöström’s best time at age 14 was 2:02.10, from July 2008. Her 1:57.34 was set in July, 2009, at age 15. Both times were set at the Swedish Championships and during that 12-month period, she lowered her PB by nearly five seconds. 🙂

Squiggy Wigginz
3 years ago

What a freestyle. Looks like butterfly to me.

SwimFan NU
Reply to  Squiggy Wigginz
3 years ago

Imagine her swimming a 1:56 200 fly. We can dream

Last edited 3 years ago by SwimFan NU
Go, Summer, go!
Reply to  Squiggy Wigginz
3 years ago

Her fly is impeccable, believe me :-))) She own almost all NAGs ut to 14yo in it! I understand why they decided to focus on free events. But what a pity we will not see her flying fly in Tokyo

Brownish
Reply to  Go, Summer, go!
3 years ago

But flying high 😉

Texas Tap Water
3 years ago

Wowww..!

14 yo!!!

GASP

She’ll win golds in Paris

Last edited 3 years ago by Texas Tap Water
SwimmerFan99
3 years ago

With this and Joshua Liendo’s 51.40 100FL at 18 (the article for which failed to mention his age for some reason), we’ve got a couple great prospects coming up.

AnEn
3 years ago

I think your time for Van Almsick is wrong, she went 1:57.90 that year.
Where did Sjöstrom swim that time? I couldn’t find it on the FINA website.

Last edited 3 years ago by AnEn
Troyy
Reply to  AnEn
3 years ago

Swimrankings has the Sjostrom swim at age 15 in 2009.

About James Sutherland

James Sutherland

James swam five years at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario, specializing in the 200 free, back and IM. He finished up his collegiate swimming career in 2018, graduating with a bachelor's degree in economics. In 2019 he completed his graduate degree in sports journalism. Prior to going to Laurentian, James swam …

Read More »