For 4,953 days, Katie Ledecky held the unbeaten streak in 800m freestyle. Ledecky was a 13-year-old when she faced a defeat for the last time in that event in July 2010. 13 years later, There came 17-year-old Summer McIntosh. At the USA Swimming’s 2024 Southern Zone South Sectionals 800m free, she recorded a blistering 8:11.39, breaking Ledecky’s winning streak.

With Ledecky’s world record-breaking time of 8:04.79, a mere 6.6-second difference has put McIntosh behind Ledecky’s 16 positions in the all-time list. But Ledecky’s record is not the only one she aspires to touch. Someone like her can not help but hold Michael Phelps in high regard… so much so that she found a way out to keep Phelps close to her heart.

“I’ve looked up to Michael Phelps my entire life,” Summer had told in an interview in 2023, just after finishing ‘Beneath the Surface: My Story’ written by Michael Phelps. In Paris, Summer gets a chance to touch Phelps to create a ripple in the swimming realm once more. Phelps has a startling record of winning eight individual gold medals in the 2004 and 2008 Olympics. But no female swimmer has yet obtained it. Looks like, Summer needs a continuous reminder for that. So she decided to keep the legend along with her but in a different form!

A 2023 interview by The Globe and Mail highlighted that McIntosh has a cat named after Michael Phelps. She calls it ‘Mikey’ and she has all praise for her furry friend. Calling it one of her most treasured possessions, McIntosh had said in 2022, “I don’t know if this counts, but my cat. He’s named Mikey, after Michael Phelps.

“He’s an orange tabby cat. I’ve had him five years and he’s like my kid and my best friend. I miss him so much when I’m in Florida because he’s still in Toronto with my sister. He’s the sweetest; all my friends love him.” 

Her admiration is not only limited to this; she likes to closely follow and mimic the paths her idol took. “He trusted the process and took it day by day. Even when you lack motivation on a day, you can still be disciplined and get the task done,” she had said to the Athletic last year. Such a belief has paid Summer dearly as she continues to rock in her endeavors. As proof of that, she had a smashing outing at the Canadian Olympic trials last month.

Summer McIntosh started her road to the Paris Olympics with a splash

She registered a victory in the 400m free on the first day of the trials and another one in the 200m freestyle the very next day. But the 400m individual medley defied all calculations. Summer clocked a staggering 4:24.38s at the Toronto Pan Am Sports Center. Starting from lane 5, Summer secured a lead as early as ten seconds into the race. The other participants were never able to close the gap. She won the race with such a large margin that in the final 50m of the race, she was the only swimmer visible on the broadcast screen.

In that effort, Summer picked up two achievements.

• She broke her own world record set at the 2023 Canadian Swimming Trials ( 4:25.87).
• She rekindled some memories from the past as she broke the 400IM record of Katinka Hosszu for the second time. Hosszu, who on her way to the 2016 Olympic gold medal, set a record of 4:26.36.

After the race, Summer was asked about her goal in Paris. Summer Kept it simple. “To just go out there and have fun, 400 IM is an event where it’s all about strategy and pacing the front half and always trying to work that breaststroke because it is my weakest stroke, so I’m just excited to do it in Paris,” she said. The crowd that cheered out loud for her at the trials will surely be louder as she takes her fire to the Parisian waters.