Teenager Summer McIntosh withdraws from 800m freestyle showdown with Ariarne Titmus in Paris

Aussie swim star Ariarne Titmus’ hopes for another Olympic gold medal have strengthened, after Canadian teenage swimming sensation, Summer McIntosh withdrew from a marquee race in Paris.

Summer McIntosh after winning the Women's 200m Butterfly Final at the FINA Swimming World Cup 2022. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)

Australian swimming star Ariarne Titmus has been given a massive boost before the Paris Olympics with confirmation Canadian teenage sensation Summer McIntosh is pulling out of one of their blockbuster showdowns.

Despite being ranked No.1 in the world over 800m freestyle – and the only woman to have beaten American legend Katie Ledecky over the distance in more than a decade – McIntosh has decided not to swim the 16-lap event in Paris because her schedule is so packed.

That’s a huge bonus for her main rivals, especially Ledecky, who won the 800m freestyle at the past three Olympics and is looking to join Michael Phelps as the only swimmers to win gold in the same event four times, which would confirm her status as the GOAT.

Canada’s teenage sensation Summer McIntosh is looming as the biggest threat to Australia’s world-beating female swimmers at the Paris Olympics

It is also good news for Titmus and rising Australian distance swimmer Lani Pallister, who is ranked third in the world over the past 12 months and also looking to get on the podium in France.

The 800m is the weakest of Titmus’s three events (200m, 400m, 800m freestyle) but she’s still rated as a strong medal contender for Paris after winning silver behind Ledecky at the last Olympics in Tokyo then bronze behind the American and China’s Li Bingji at the 2023 world championships.

It’s not such good news for Australia’s best all-round swimmer Kaylee McKeown after McIntosh ditched the 800m to focus all her energy on their mega showdown in the 200m individual medley, which is being held immediately before the endurance race.

Australia's best all-round swimmer, Kaylee McKeown faces a massive showdown with Summer McIntosh in the 200m medley

Already the defending Olympic champion in 100m and 200m backstroke, McKeown is adding the 200m medley to her program for Paris and has the fastest time in the world this year (2:06.99), which she set at last month’s Australian national titles.

The only active competitor who has gone quicker is the pint-sized McIntosh, who stopped the clock at 2:06.89 last year to break the junior world record – setting the stage for a mouth-watering clash that could well decide who is the female swimmer of the year.

Still only 17, McIntosh is a once-in-a-generation freak who is so fast in so many different events that she has to pick and choose to avoid burning herself out.

Although Australia’s Ariarne Titmus has the wood over Katie Ledecky in 400m freestyle, the American is still regarded as the GOAT of female distance swimming

She has entered a staggering seven races for next week’s Canadian Olympic trials in Toronto – 100m freestyle, 200m freestyle, 400m freestyle, 100m backstroke, 200m butterfly, 200m medley and 400m medley – but will not race in them all in Paris because she’s entered some just to secure a spot in relays.

Assuming there are no hiccups and she qualifies in everything as expected, her program for Paris will include the 400m freestyle, 400m medley, 200m butterfly, 200m medley and relays, and possibly the 200m freestyle.

McIntosh will be the overwhelming favourite to win the 400m medley and the 200m butterfly – events she has already won twice each at the world championships – but her other races are touch and go because she will be up against Australia’s very best.

Australia’s Mollie O'Callaghan broke the longstanding 200m freestyle world record in 2023

As well as tackling McKeown in the 200m medley, she will face Olympic champion and world record-holder Titmus in the 400m freestyle – plus Ledecky – in what is looming as one of the must-watch races in any sport in Paris.

“I see them both as big dangers,” Titmus replied when asked recently who posed the biggest threat to her crown.

“I know that the experience that Katie has is invaluable. I don’t think you can buy that.

“And I think Summer is going to be fearless and probably will remind me of myself when I was at my first Olympic Games.”

McIntosh and her coaches have not decided yet whether she will race the 200m freestyle in Paris because it also clashes with another of her races, the 400m medley, which takes place an hour and eight minutes later.

If she does attempt the gruelling double, she will likely come up against Titmus, who won the 200m gold in Tokyo, and newly crowned world record-holder Mollie O’Callaghan.

“I think the field in the women’s middle-distance freestyle at the moment is probably the best that we’ve ever seen,” Titmus said.

Originally published as Teenager Summer McIntosh withdraws from 800m freestyle showdown with Ariarne Titmus in Paris