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Summer McIntosh now faces unexpected challenges in her quest for five individual gold medals at the 2028 Summer Olympics.
Following a groundbreaking change to the next Summer Games schedule announced Wednesday, scheduling conflicts have emerged that will impact the Canadian swimming star's selection.
Perhaps the most dramatic change will come in the finals of the nine days of swimming, when back-to-back races are scheduled for the women's 200m butterfly and 800m freestyle.
The change effectively eliminates any possibility that McIntosh will be pushing for the latter event, despite making concrete moves to improve and compete for gold in Los Angeles.
CBC Sports' Devin Hero asked Canadian swimmer Summer McIntosh what it's like to be one of the greatest Canadian athletes alive today.
The 19-year-old from Toronto is a three-time world champion and reigning Olympic champion in the 200m, but at the Canadian trials in June she clocked the second fastest time among women in the 800m free (8:05.07).
“The new order does not interfere with Summer's stated goal of competing for five gold medals in Los Angeles,” Byron McDonald, head swimming coach at the University of Toronto, told CBC Sports.
“What it does do is move the discussion away from 'What will the fifth meet of the Summer be' to the fifth meet of the Summer almost certainly being the 200m freestyle.”
McIntosh is pretty sure he will compete in the 200m individual medley, 400m track, 200m fly and 400m freestyle.
“Her two other stated options for the fifth event are the 800m freestyle and the 200m backstroke – both conflict with other gold medal attempts in the summer. Because the 800m freestyle is an impossible double, back-to-back with the 200m butterfly, so that's probably off the table,” McDonald said.
“The 200-meter backstroke is the same session as the 200-meter freestyle, so it would be possible to have a break of more than an hour between the two events,” McDonald said, “but why take the risk when the 200-meter freestyle is a separate event with no conflicts?”
McIntosh is expected to begin his Olympic campaign on Saturday, July 22, with the 400m freestyle final.
CBC Sports' early predictions for McIntosh's Los Angeles 2028 lineup:
- Day 1 – 400m freestyle final.
- Day 2 – day off
- Day 3. Final at a distance of 400 meters.
- Day 4: 200m freestyle semi-finals.
- Day 5: 200m freestyle final.
- Day 6 – 200m semi-final IM
- Day 7. Final at a distance of 200 meters.
- Day 8. Semi-finals at a distance of 200 m butterfly.
- Day 9. 200m butterfly final.
Women's 100m sprinters become Games leaders
It will be a busy opening day of the 2028 Summer Games for the world's fastest women.
As part of the seismic schedule change, the Olympics will be headlined by athletics rather than swimming. The first day at the Los Angeles Coliseum, July 15, will include all three women's 100-meter dashes, organizers said.
At major competitions, sprinters usually compete in no more than two races per day. It's a change the men won't have to deal with, but the women's team, which could include the last two world champions, Sha'Carri Richardson and Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, as well as Olympian Julien Alfred, has nearly three years to prepare.
Traditionally, the Summer Games begin with swimming, but since the opening ceremony and swimming competition are taking place at Sofi Stadium, the organizers decided to switch places. It was impossible to install a swimming pool in the stadium so quickly after the ceremony.
