Summer McIntosh won four events in Canadian Open tuning

TORONTO – Summer McIntosh closed out her inaugural Speedo Canadian Open on Saturday with her fourth victory in as many nights.

The 17-year-old Olympian and four-time world champion from Toronto won the women's 200m individual medley in 2:08.19. It completed the six-event program at the meet, which is set for next month's Olympic and Paralympic trials.

“I'll continue to work on back-to-back races and more races on the sprint side. I'm a middle distance swimmer in general, but developing my speed and finishing the race as well as possible is something I learned a lot at this meet,” McIntosh said.

Ashley McMillan of the Ontario High Performance Center was second in 2:12.85. On the para swimming side, Ian Tan of Oakville Aquatic Club swam a Canadian S7 record of 32.82 in the 50m freestyle. That was enough to win the multi-class race as he knocked off Daniel Dorris' two-year-old mark.

Ajax Aquatic Club's Jessica Tinney added a new national record (SM5) of 4:30.46 in the 200m IM.

In another event at the Toronto Pan-Am Sports Center on Saturday, Kelsey Vogue of the Manitoba Bisons won the women's 200m breaststroke in 2:24.91 as she looks to qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympics at next month's trials.

Waugh had mixed feelings about his victory. “I've been doing a lot of good training and exercise. “It's good to come here to compete and improve a few skills leading up to the challenge,” said the 25-year-old Olympian.

The first edition of the four-day course is on the books, and now the focus is on tests. The dramatic seven-day event, scheduled for May 13-19 at TPASC, will serve as Swimming Canada's qualifying meet to represent the teams that will represent Canada at the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris.

“It's good for us to come back here and compete in a familiar pool,” Vogue said. “I now know what to do leading up to the trials.”

“The first Canadian Open provided what we wanted, an opportunity to compete in Canada as part of a national program. There have been some great world-class races, which is perfect for this point before the trials,” said Director of High Performance and National Coach John Atkinson.

“Our athletes can do their final preparations for the trials with their coaches at TPASC. The Canadian Open is part of Canada's “Canadian Way” competitive strategy for swimming 2025-2028 and can be developed year-over-year.

This Canadian Press report was first published on April 13, 2024.