Is 16-year-old Summer McIntosh a direct rival to Katie Ledecky?

Canadian swimmer Summer McIntosh is often dubbed to be the next swimming great. She is often compared to Katie Ledecky and often coined as her direct rival. Interestingly, McIntosh defeated Ledecky to end her nine-year home pool winning streak in the recently concluded Pro Series Swim meet in fort Lauderdale, Florida.

She clocked a lightning time of 1.54.13 to defeat the seven-time Olympic gold medalist. Summer won by a margin of 0.83 seconds. The defeat was also the first domestic long-course 200-meter freestyle for Ledecky since 2014.

On October 28, 2022, in Toronto, Ontario, on the first day of the FINA Swimming World Cup, Summer McIntosh of Canada triumphed in the Women's 400m Freestyle Final before Katie Ledecky of the United States.

With both Summer McIntosh and Katie Ledecky almost competing in the same events, there are high chances of medal collisions between the two.

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Summer McIntosh's short but tremendous career

Summer McIntosh, a 16-year-old Canadian competitive swimmer, was born on August 18, 2006. Jill, Summer's mother, participated as a competitive swimmer at the 1984 Summer Olympics and placed ninth in the 200-meter Breaststroke B Final. She won a bronze medal in the same event at the Commonwealth Games in 1986.

More than 50 age-group national swimming records have been set by McIntosh. In May 2021, she set a world record (4:05.13) for the fastest 400-meter freestyle time by a 14-year-old swimmer.

At the 2021 Canadian Olympic swimming trials in Toronto, she overcame training partner Penny Oleksiak to win the 200-meter freestyle race in 1:56.19, a personal best and the fastest time ever set by a 14-year-old swimmer globally.

Toyota U.S. Open - Greensboro

At the 15th FINA World Swimming Championships in the summer, she won gold in the 4x200-meter freestyle and silver in the 4x100-meter medley and 400-meter freestyle. On the opening day of the competition, McIntosh broke the 400-meter freestyle world junior mark, the World Cup record, the American record, and the Canadian record. She won the gold medal with a timing of 3:52.80.

The 200-meter fly and 400-meter medley events were part of the 2022 World Aquatics Championships, which took place from June 18 to June 25. Summer McIntosh came away with two gold medals. She also won bronze and silver in the 400-meter freestyle and 4x200-meter freestyle events.

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Katie Ledecky's illustrious career

When Ledecky was 15 years old, she represented the United States in the 800-meter freestyle competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, where she won her first Olympic gold medal.

At the 2013 World Championships, she quickly made her professional swimming debut and won four gold medals in the 400, 800, 1500, and 4200 freestyle events.

Katie Ledecky at the 2022 U.S. Open - Greensboro

With 19 gold medals from World Championships, Ledecky is the most successful female professional swimmer in history. She rose to prominence on the professional circuit quite quickly. In addition, Katie Ledecky has 10 medals from the two Pan Pacific Championships she has participated in. Silver, bronze, and gold medals make up eight of the 10 awards.

Ledecky also received seven Olympic gold medals, the most recent of which she earned at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics in the 800-meter and 1500-meter freestyle events.

Ledecky is also the holder of two short-course swimming world records. She recorded times of 7:57.42 for the 800-meter freestyle and 15:08.24 for the 1500-meter freestyle.