Canada's talent pool runs deep

Lineup full of accomplished swimmers set for Paris, with McIntosh shouldering major role

- KERRY GILLESPIE

Summer McIntosh qualified for a fifth individual Olympic event, winning the 200-metre individual medley Sunday at the Canadian swim trials.

Summer McIntosh qualified for a fifth Olympic event on the final night of the Canadian Olympic and Paralympic swimming trials, setting herself up for an extraordinary and exhausting experience in Paris.

The 17-year-old from Toronto didn’t just qualify in five different freestyle, butterfly, and medley events, she did it in a commanding fashion that suggests her goal of winning multiple individual Olympic medals in Paris is well within her grasp.

She lowered her world record in the 400-metre individual medley, set world-leading times in the 400 freestyle and 200 butterfly, clocked the second-fastest mark of the year in the 200 freestyle and the third fastest in the 200 medley, her final event Sunday night.

“Going to Paris, I’m super excited. I think it’s going to be an amazing meet, not just for me, but for all of Team Canada. Just watching Josh (Liendo) do that the 50.0 right before my race definitely gave me some motivation,” she said.

Liendo, who had already qualified in the 50 and 100 free, lowered his Canadian record in the 100 butterfly in the morning heats and then won the evening final in a world-leading 50.06 seconds.