Katie Ledecky, Summer McIntosh and a race for the ages
The World Swimming Champions that start this weekend are headlined by an expected face-off unlike any in the history of the sport.Katie Ledecky wants to end up being the very first swimmer to win a seventh world title in one occasion. Summer McIntosh wants to end up being the 2nd swimmer– after Michael Phelps– to win five specific gold medals at a single worlds.Only among those feats can happen at this meet in Singapore.Ledecky, the most embellished female swimmer ever, and McIntosh, an 18-year-old Canadian rapidly rising the all-time ranks, are anticipated to take on in the most expected race of worlds– the 800m freestyle last on Aug. 2, the penultimate day of the eight-day competition. The World Swimming Championships air live on Peacock from July 26-Aug. 3. A long time during McIntosh’s training in France this year, she and coach Fred Vergnoux had what he called a long-term preparation conversation.They talked
about the 800m free, an occasion McIntosh had dropped from her own jam-packed major meet schedule after putting 11th at the Tokyo Olympics as a 14-year-old. McIntosh is now the world’s finest well-rounded swimmer, dominating shorter events.Ledecky won the 800m totally free in Tokyo, simply as she did in London and Rio and would do in Paris. In 2028, she can become the very first swimmer to win the exact same Olympic occasion for a fifth time– a point likewise raised in between McIntosh and Vergnoux.” Perhaps Summer seasons would be the one who
wanted to challenge that, “Vergnoux said.McIntosh accepted the difficulty a bit early, for these World Championships.She will deal with Ledecky in not only the 400m totally free, where they shared the podium at the 2022 Worlds and 2024 Olympics, but likewise in the 800m
free– Ledecky’s trademark occasion.”There were lots of reasons that I picked the 800m,”McIntosh stated, mentioning not only the chance to race Ledecky, however likewise due to the fact that it slotted in well for her own schedule of five specific occasions.”I believe it’s, in my viewpoint, the most significant obstacle.
“Ledecky lowered her own world record three months back and has just one 800m free last defeat in the last 15 years (more than 60 wins). McIntosh is accountable for that blemish. In February 2024, she beat Ledecky by 5.73 seconds at a regional fulfill in Orlando. Both trained in Florida at the time(Ledecky still does ).” Me beating her in the 800m, and it being a shock to the swimming world, I think states method more about her than it
states about me,”McIntosh stated in reverence.McIntosh grew up with a quote from Ledecky on her bed room wall. She has repeatedly said that Ledecky has actually”transformed”swimming. Gretchen Walsh has never ever won a private worldwide title in a long-course swimming pool. She could leave worlds with 4 of them.”It’s constantly a great race when we’re beside each other,”Ledecky said after their most recent head-to-head, when she overtook McIntosh to win a 400m free on May 1 in her second-best time ever.McIntosh’s competitive cravings appeared
when she reviewed her Paris Olympic performance: gold medals in the 200m and 400m individual medleys and 200m butterfly and silver in the 400m free behind Australian Ariarne Titmus.” I wanted to get 4 golds,” she began her response in a spring interview.Overall, McIntosh said she was”incredibly pleased “with how things ended up, albeit”a bit dissatisfied”with the runner-up in the 400m free.She started working with Vergnoux after Christmas– cross-training included her first time cross-country skiing. She decided to go from 4 individual occasions in Paris to 5 both at these worlds and at the 2028 LA Games. She hasn’t chosen yet if her 2028 schedule will likewise consist of the 800m complimentary or a different
fifth event.The just swimmer to win 5 individual occasions at one Olympics or worlds is Phelps. The legend FaceTimed McIntosh after last month’s Canadian trials.
He congratulated her on becoming the first swimmer to break a world record in 3 different private occasions at one
meet given that his 2008 Beijing Games masterpiece.McIntosh did not break Ledecky’s 800m free world record at trials, however she did publish the third-fastest time in history. Her 8:05.07 was 95 hundredths off the world record. The two integrate for the 15 fastest times in history:
13 for Ledecky, two for McIntosh.”(Ledecky )always brings the best out of me, which is also why I’m never anxious before a race (with her)because I understand it’s going to be a battle to the end,”McIntosh said.”I’m going to have the very best result because she’s going to press me to do it. ” Leon Marchand went from four private events to 2 at the World Championships in Singapore.