Summer McIntosh continues to blaze a trail in the pool in 2025.
The 19-year-old swimmer from Toronto was named Canadian Press Female Athlete of the Year for the third year in a row.
McIntosh won four gold medals at the World Championships in Singapore, setting three world records at the national trials.
She became the second woman to win gold in four individual events at one world championships, after American star Katie Ledecky in 2015.
The Canadian prepared for a monster event in Singapore when she lowered world records in the 400m freestyle and individual medley, as well as the 200m individual medley, during the June trials in Victoria.
“Whenever I do trials I always try to set world records, but when I go to Singapore it was a lot longer than the competition and you're all over the world and there are a lot of external things that are completely out of your control, I was just trying to get my hand to the wall first at as many competitions as I could,” McIntosh said.
Canadian swimmers, led by Summer McIntosh, put on quite a show in 2025, and we've rounded up 10 MUST-WATCH moments that happened in the pool this year. Which one did you like best?
McIntosh was quietly confident in her goal of winning five gold medals from five races in Singapore.
“Every time I get in the water and race, I’m trying to win,” McIntosh said. “I know it doesn’t happen every time, but especially when it comes to my best performances at the Olympics or World Championships, my goal is always to get gold for Canada.
“Saying it out loud also helps me realize it more and also makes it feel more real.”
She moved closer to her goal with victories in the 400 and 200 m individual medley, 400 m freestyle and 200 m butterfly. McIntosh also won bronze behind eventual winner Ledecky in the 800m freestyle.
“Even all the way from Singapore and across Swimming Canada, we all felt the love and support from home,” she said. “It was so fun to be back.
“It keeps me motivated in those moments where you might be tired or something like that and you just have to keep moving forward knowing that Canada is behind you and supporting you.”
The annual Canadian Press Awards for Top Male and Female Athletes and Top Team are determined by a vote of editors, writers and broadcasters from CP's client news organizations across the country.
third year in a row
McIntosh was the second woman to win the CP Athlete Award three years in a row, following figure skater Barbara Ann Scott from 1946 to 1948.
McIntosh received 34 of 53 votes, ahead of rugby player Sophie de Goede (8), tennis player Victoria Mboko (5) and cyclist Magdeleine Vallier (3).
Ski cross racer Marielle Thompson, hockey player Marie-Philip Poulin and hammer thrower Camryn Rogers received votes.
McIntosh's 2025 record won voters overwhelmingly.
“I love her swagger,” wrote Waterloo Region Record news editor Brian Williams. “She tells everyone she's going for gold and then she does it. A medal of any other color is not enough for her.”
The CP Female Athlete Award was first presented in 1932 to sprinter Hilda Strike, a two-time Olympic silver medalist in athletics.
The recognition has been an annual event since then, with the exception of four years during World War II, and 1950 and 2000, when the award was given to the female athlete of the half-century and century respectively.
Other women reported this for three or more years, but not three years in a row. Golfer Marlene Streit was selected five times (1952, 1953, 1956, 1957 and 1963).
Train with the best
After winning three gold medals and one silver at the 2024 Paris Olympics, McIntosh moved her training base from Florida to France to work with coach Fred Vernoux ahead of the qualifying trials and world championships.
She later moved to Austin, Texas after the World Championships to join Bob Bowman's professional group.
“2025 was a pretty crazy year for me just because I moved around a lot,” McIntosh said.
“It was a big learning experience for me and probably one of the hardest training periods of my life, along with going to Singapore. I knew it would definitely be even tougher than the Olympics, with the hope of getting five gold medals.
“I learned a lot. I swam a lot.”
Bowman was the inspiration for Michael Phelps and his 23 career Olympic gold medals, as well as France's Leon Marchand's four gold medals in Paris.
McIntosh now trains with Marchand and American Olympic medalists Regan Smith and Simone Emmanuel in Austin.
“There’s really nothing better than having people on both the male and female side push me so quickly,” she said.
McIntosh fell ill in October with an illness that was never diagnosed. Due to complications caused by a spinal tap to test for viral meningitis, she spent a week in bed.
She missed all three stops on the World Championship tour, including one in her hometown of Toronto.
“It was very heartbreaking just because I had trained with Bob so much before,” McIntosh said.
McIntosh rebounded at December's US Open with victories in the 400-meter freestyle, the second-fastest time ever, behind her own world record, and in the 200-meter butterfly.
“You never know when you're going to get pulled out of the water,” she said. “Come to practice every day with gratitude, keep moving forward and make sure to stay healthy.”
If the Olympics and World Championships aren't on the menu in 2026, what's next for McIntosh?
“I'm really just focused on whether I can lower my own world records and break some new ones,” she said.
