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McIntosh intends to race her four core events 鈥� the 200- and 400-metre individual medley, 200 butterfly and 400 freestyle 鈥� and the 800, an event she rarely competes in. She鈥檚 the world record holder in three (200 and 400 medley, 400 free) and the second-fastest woman ever in the other two (200 fly and 800 free).

鈥淢y main goal in Singapore is just to get my hand on the wall first as many times as I can, rather than the time, but in doing so it can also come with some world records, hopefully,鈥� she said Wednesday in a video conference call with media.

To touch the wall first in all five events would mean beating American legend Katie Ledecky, the undisputed queen of the 800, and succeeding in the 400, an event where she鈥檚 been a world record holder twice but never won on the world stage. She was the silver medallist at the 2024 Paris Olympics, fourth at the 2023 worlds and second at the 2022 worlds.

Ledecky has been the 800 world champion six times and Olympic champion four times. McIntosh, who came within a second of Ledecky last month, is the only swimmer who has come close in years.

The “awesome challenge” of racing Ledecky, who just recently lowered her own world record from 2016, is part of why McIntosh chose that event.

“Katie being so strong and in her top form right now this season is also really cool to see, so that matchup will be awesome,鈥� McIntosh said. 鈥淏ut I think also it just works really well with my schedule, to be honest,鈥� she said, noting the other options for a fifth event (200 free, 200 backstroke) would have added a semifinal to her packed聽 schedule.

McIntosh has spent several months with coach Fred Vergnoux in the south of France this year, upping her distance training to take on the 800 and gain an edge in the 400.

鈥淚 think going into past big meets, I haven’t had the confidence聽in my training and in my freestyle in general, technique-wise and endurance-wise, that I have now,鈥� she said. 鈥�(Vergnoux) has really pushed me to the next level in my freestyle, and having endurance to finish the 800 has definitely also helped my 400 freestyle, so I’m super pumped.鈥�

A year ago in Paris, McIntosh competed in four individual events, coming away with three golds and a silver.聽She is raising the bar in Singapore as an early dry run for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, where she also intends to do five.

鈥淚’m just excited to see how I manage doing five events, which I’ve never done before on the world level 鈥� to add this new challenge this year really kept me motivated.鈥�

It wasn鈥檛 that long ago that swim coaches were saying McIntosh was still young and learning how to swim multiple events at top meets. The medals in Paris and multiple world records while swimming a slew of events seem to have put at end to that.

As Vergnoux put it, poolside in Victoria: 鈥淭he way she approaches things, she has no limit whatsoever.鈥�

This fall, McIntosh will join legendary coach Bob Bowman鈥檚 pro group at the University of Texas in Austin. Bowman, of course, trained Phelps 鈥� the swimmer McIntosh named a cat after, and calls 鈥渢he GOAT of swimming鈥� 鈥� and also coaches French Olympic star L茅on Marchand.

McIntosh got a surprise call from Phelps after last month’s world record feats: “That was so cool. He was just congratulating me on what I had just accomplished 鈥� It’s still a shock. I can’t believe that still happened, to be honest, but it was an honour and it was so cool to get to talk to him, and definitely gave me more motivation to keep doing what I’m doing.”

The swimming program at the multi-discipline world aquatics championships starts July 14 with open-water racing. The pool competition runs July 26 to Aug 3.

McIntosh headlines Canada鈥檚 team of 27 鈥� one fewer than expected. Last week, Penny Oleksiak 鈥� who won the 50 and 100 freestyle titles at the Canadian trials and qualified for the worlds 鈥� announced she was facing a whereabouts case with World Aquatics聽(related to updating her information so she can be easily available for doping tests) and wouldn鈥檛 be competing.