Canadian Summer McIntosh’s move to train under Bob Bowman is off to a swift start.
McIntosh, a three-time 2024 Olympic gold medalist and four-time 2025 World champion, swam the second-fastest 400m freestyle in history in her first final since relocating to the University of Texas to train with Bowman’s star-laden group.
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McIntosh clocked 3 minutes, 55.37 seconds at the Toyota U.S. Open, which coincidentally is in Austin this year. The only faster time is McIntosh’s world record of 3:54.18 from June.
“This was my first race back for the season, my first under Bob, so I was pretty pumped up for it,” McIntosh said on Peacock. “That’s definitely by far the fastest I’ve gone in-season, so I’m excited at what I can do in the next coming months.”
U.S. OPEN: Full Results | Broadcast Schedule
McIntosh announced before this past summer’s World Championships that she would move to Texas after worlds to train under Bowman. Bowman was the career-long coach of Michael Phelps, who like McIntosh swam the 200m and 400m individual medleys and the 200m butterfly.
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Then at worlds in Singapore, McIntosh became at age 18 the second female swimmer to win four individual golds at a single worlds after Katie Ledecky in 2015 (also at age 18).
McIntosh’s goal was to win five golds at worlds. She took bronze in the 800m free in Singapore behind Ledecky and Australian Lani Pallister.
Then the Toronto native packed her bags for Texas. She joined a training group that includes the world’s top male swimmer, Leon Marchand of France, as well as American stars Regan Smith and Simone Manuel.
“Every day (Bowman) comes on deck, he’s just about consistency and hard work and discipline,” McIntosh said. “I think all of his swimmers are heavily influenced by that, and he creates such an amazing culture for the team to come in day after day and work hard and just try to keep improving to get better.”
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The U.S. Open continues Friday with finals at 7 p.m. ET, live on Peacock.
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