Ҵʰ鷡—Summer McIntosh’s main rival is Summer McIntosh, but there are some others. Her showdown against American legend Katie Ledecky in the 800-metre freestyle later this week is a clash of legends. Ledecky is nearly a decade older, and still great. This may be McIntosh’s best chance to meet her near her peak.
As she conquers the swimming world, though, McIntosh might eventually have to start looking behind her, and Wednesday night in Singapore the vision briefly appeared. In the 200 butterfly semifinal, McIntosh was in lane four. Chinese swimmer Yu Zidi, who has some truly eye-popping times for a 12-year-old, was in lane three.
And for a minute you saw a potential future. McIntosh swam her first 50 in 27.78 seconds, Yu 28.05. At 100 metres, McIntosh was at 1:01.03; Yu was at 1:01.09.
Of course, for all the overheated and largely irrelevant comparisons of Yu’s times versus McIntosh at the same age, it’s not currently a competition. McIntosh was cruising and won the heat in a controlled 2:06.22, and will be the gold medal favourite in the final Thursday night. Yu qualified in eighth place in 2:07.95, which for a 12-year-old is remarkable. The 18-year-old McIntosh, meanwhile, already has two of the five gold medals she wants here, even if she wasn’t happy with her time in the 200 individual medley. And in the 200 fly, McIntosh is racing against history.
“I just needed to make the final using the least amount of energy: mental, emotional, physical, all the things,” said McIntosh. “So, yeah, I mean the (200 IM) time doesn’t really matter, so just going to rest, recover tomorrow morning and then get ready for the final tomorrow night, which I’m really excited about.”
McIntosh saying she’s excited might be significant. At the Canadian trials in Victoria last month, McIntosh broke three world records, but it was her attempts at records in the 800 freestyle and 200 fly that were almost more impressive. The 800 is Ledecky’s race; the 200 fly record of 2:01.81 was set in 2009 by Chinese swimmer Liu Zige at a Chinese championship wearing a since-banned supersuit. Even given the suit, that time was widely seen as unnatural.
And in Victoria, McIntosh came within 0.95 seconds in the 800 and was actually one-hundredth of a second ahead of the 200 fly world-record pace with 50 to go, before finishing 0.45 seconds back. But she felt like she mangled her finish so badly that it could have cost her … 0.3 seconds? 0.4? You want to bet she’s worked on that in the past six weeks?
What a thing if the swimmers that inspired McIntosh get inspired to stick around, by her.
What a thing if the swimmers that inspired McIntosh get inspired to stick around, by her.
“Other than the 400 freestyle (at trials), that was my second-favourite swim, for sure, just the timelines,” said McIntosh. “I mean, I was so frustrated when I finished, though, because I didn’t think I could come close to the record. But then I went (2:02.26) and the way I finished, which is horrible, I really jammed the finish. So I know I’ve got a few milliseconds there if I were to do the same swim again.”
Remember, she is in better shape than she was last month. That said, only one world record has fallen here this week: France’s Léon Marchand smashed Ryan Lochte’s 2011 record in the 200 IM, in a semifinal of all places: 1:52.69 to Lochte’s 1:54.00. McIntosh might try to take a run at a second record Thursday.
Yu, meanwhile, will likely be a footnote in the final, a curiosity, a fascination. She doesn’t look 12; she doesn’t swim like she’s 12. When Canada’s Mary-Sophie Harvey finally got her first best-on-best world championship medal in the 200 IM Monday, she only out-touched Yu by six-hundredths of a second. The 12-year-old swam the final 50 freestyle in 30.16 to McIntosh’s 30.17 — it was the second-fastest closing leg.
China has a particular history of young athletes, but not in swimming. The potential for abuse is rife, of course, and China is a black box in so many ways before you factor in their recent swimming doping controversy. (Yu has apparently been subject to four doping tests so far this year.) The World Aquatics age rule isn’t an age rule. It says you have to be 14, unless you’re fast enough.
In an interview with Chinese state media, Yu compared swimming the four strokes to sampling different cuisine. She said, like a 12-year-old: “When I feel tired during training, I encourage myself by imagining how cool it would be to compete internationally in a swimsuit adorned with the national flag and my (cartoon dog-adorned) cap.”
She also said she almost gave up swimming last year due to exhaustion from school and sport. She was 11 then, and the red flags here are visible from miles away. Yu might burn out like paper; others have, and McIntosh’s chasing swimming history in a way that nobody might touch her for a long time.
But just as she is coming for Ledecky, for one night you wondered who might eventually be coming for her.
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