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≡ McINTOSH FABULOUS IN AUSTIN ≡
It may be December, and it’s cold in a lot of places, but at the U.S. Open in Austin, Texas, Canada’s 19-year-old sensation, Summer McIntosh was red-hot.
She missed the World Aquatics World Cup in the U.S. and Canada due to illness, but she was fully ready for Austin:
● She won the 400 m Freestyle in 3:55.37, with American Anna Peplowski second in 4:10.55! McIntosh’s time is the second-fastest in history, behind only her world record of 3:54.18 at the Canadian Team Trials in June. She now owns four of the top six performances in history.
● In the 200 m Butterfly, she won in 2:02.62, way ahead of American star Regan Smith, who finished second in 2:06.89. For McIntosh, it’s the no. 4 performance ever and her no. 3 performance; she was already the no. 2 performer ever and now has four of the top five performances ever.
Looking ahead, McIntosh will have to determine which events to contest in the crowded schedule of the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. She won Paris Olympic golds in the 200 m Fly and 200 and 400 m Medleys and a silver to the now-retired Ariarne Titmus (AUS) in the 400 m Freestyle. But she will also be a contender in the 200 m and 800 m Frees as well.
Also brilliant in Austin was American Kate Douglass, who won the 200 m Breaststroke in Paris in 2024 and was second to McIntosh in the 200 m Medley, an event she has won twice at the World Championships. In Austin, she collected four golds:
● 50 m Free in 24.20, and Rio 2016 100 m Free co-champ Simone Manuel at 24.42.
● 100 m Breast in 1:06.55, with Alexanne LePage (CAN) second in 1:06.81.
● 200 m Breast in 2:20.86, beating fellow Olympian Alex Walsh (2:24.88).
● 200 m Medley in 2:07.85, with Walsh second in 2:09.18.
Douglass has not contested the Freestyle sprints much; she did win a 2024 Worlds silver in the 50 m Free in Qatar; she appears to be – along with Gretchen Walsh – the best of the U.S. sprinters.
Walsh was also busy, winning the 50 m Fly in 25.18 and the 100 m Fly in 55.60, with Regan Smith second in 56.18 and McIntosh third in 57.01. Walsh finished third in the 50 m Free behind Douglass and Manuel, in 24.57 and was second to Manuel in the 100 m Free (53.76), where Douglass was third (53.82).
Manuel, seeming to regain more energy at 29, won the 100 m Free (53.33) and the 200 m Free in 1:56.66, to rank no. 25 on the 2025 world list!
Smith was also everywhere, winning the 100 m Back in 58.19 ahead of Katharine Berkoff (58.71) and the 200 m Back, in 2:05.52; Berkoff won their match-up in the 50 m Free in 27.28 to 27.52.
Ohio State’s Mika Nikanorov won the women’s 800 m Free (8:34.38) and 1,500 m Free (16:19.80). Canada’s Mary-Sophie Harvey took the 400 m Medley in 4:36.75 and Irish star Mona McSherry won the 50 m Breast final in 30.48.
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The men’s racing had lots of stars as well, like quadruple gold medalist Leon Marchand (FRA) and 200 m Backstroke winner Hubert Kos (HUN). It was Kos who had the best meet, taking wins in the 100 m Back in 52.63, the 200 m Back in 1:54.21 – he won by four seconds! – and the 200 m Medley, in 1:55.50. He was third in the 50 m Back in 24.74, behind American Shaine Casas (24.53) and new Australian star, 17-year-old Henry Allan (24.65).
Casas also won the 100 m Fly in 50.24, no. 5 on the world list for 2025, now the no. 9 performer in history! He finished well ahead of Canada’s Ilya Kharun (50.40), Marchand (51.20) and Tokyo 2020 Olympic champ Caeleb Dressel (51.33).
Marchand, for his part, won the 400 m Free in 3:44.70, no. 9 in the world for 2025 – over 16-year-old Luka Mijatovic of the U.S. (3:45.30) – and the 200 m Fly in 1:52.57, no. 2 in the world this year!
Mijatovic also won the 800 m Free in 7:48.28, but Olympic champ Bobby Finke was upset in the 1,500 m Free by Ilia Sibertsev (UZB), 15:05.51 to 15:09.21.
No one else won two races, with the Freestyle sprints going to U.S. stars Chris Guiliano (50 m: 21.57) and Jack Alexy (100 m: 47.40), with Dressel taking the B final in the 50 m Free in 21.94, which would have tied for fifth in the A final. In the Fly sprints, Dressel was third in the 50 m final in 23.49, behind winner Kharun (22.98) and American Dare Rose (23.17).
Worlds runner-up Luke Hobson of the U.S. won the 200 m Free in 1:44.49; the Breaststroke winners were Michael Houlie (RSA: 26.72) in the 50 m, Alexei Avakov (59.45) in the 100 and Jack Kelly (2:09.90) in the 200 m. Two-time Worlds runner-up Carson Foster won the 400 m Medley in 4:07.02.
For a meet that was primarily a check on training fitness, this was amazing. McIntosh, especially, appears to have no limits, but she won’t get another real heat check until the Worlds in 2027, a long way off.
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