Coach Fred Vergnoux Says Summer McIntosh is Just Getting Started; Foretells Sub-8:00 in 800 Freestyle
Fred Vergnoux has been one of the premier coaches in the world for years, having molded the careers of multiple Olympic medalists. Included in that group is Spaniard Mireia Belmonte, who captured the gold medal in the 200-meter butterfly at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro. So, when Vergnoux discusses the sport and the potential of his athletes, his words carry weight.
Since the beginning of this year, Vergnoux has been guiding the training of Canadian superstar Summer McIntosh, the 18-year-old who won three gold medals and a silver and last year’s Olympics in Paris. The partnership between Vergnoux and McIntosh has produced superb results, as McIntosh set world records at the recent Canadian Trials for the World Championships in the 400 freestyle, 200 individual medley and 400 individual medley. She also just missed breaking the longstanding world record in the 200 butterfly.
But Vergnoux believes there is much more to come from his teenage pupil.
“When we talk with Summer, we don’t talk about any limits,” Vergnoux said in an interview with Canada’s CBC Sports. “And that’s something that I really enjoy with her. We have a very high level of expectation. We expect a lot more.
“We should just enjoy watching Summer swimming. I think it’s only the start for Summer McIntosh, to be honest. For three gold medals in Paris, I think that’s the beginning of something amazing.”
McIntosh is set to embrace a five-event schedule at the World Championships in Singapore, with the 800 freestyle added to the disciplines she raced at the Canadian Trials. That 800 freestyle will mark a duel with American distance legend Katie Ledecky, who has won four straight Olympic titles in the 800 freestyle and earlier this year lowered her world record to 8:04.12. Only McIntosh has ever come close to Ledecky’s best times in the 800 free, having clocked 8:05.07 in early June.
Vergnoux, though, believes that McIntosh has a lot more to show in the 800 freestyle, given that she has not contested the event often. In fact, the French coach sees McIntosh breaking a major barrier in the future.
“I think she’s swam (the 800 freestyle) four or five times,” Vergnoux told CBC Sports. “(She has) no experience in the 800 freestyle. I think Summer can go under eight minutes and be the first one to the break long course (world record), no question.”
The notion of a sub-8:00 effort in the 800 freestyle is mind-boggling, as it is the equivalent of back-to-back sub-4:00 marks in the 400 freestyle. In that event, only seven women in history have gone under four minutes. But Vergnoux recognizes elite talent, and in McIntosh, he sees no reason to establish limits.
“She’s going to carry on writing the story of swimming,” he said.
“That 800 freestyle will mark a duel with American distance legend Katie Ledecky, who has won four straight Olympic titles in the 400 freestyle and earlier this year lowered her world record to 8:04.12.”
She has won four straight Olympic titles in the 800 freestyle!
Thanks for the correction!
I checked and McIntosh has swum the 800 Free 23 times (not “four or five”), raising the question as to why Vergnoux would disinform regarding her experience level in the event. Far from having no experience in the 800 Free distance, she started swimming the event at age 9, it was one of her two primary events for which she qualified at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, and she has been a pro swimmer now for about five years with almost ten years of experience in the event.