Canadian swim star McIntosh making big changes as she eyes even more gold in L.A. 2028

Canadian swimming superstar Summer McIntosh has decided to make a coaching change to help in her pursuit of five gold medals at the next Olympics. 

In an exclusive interview with CBC Sports, the 18-year-old from Toronto said this will be her last season training at the Sarasota Sharks facility with coach Brent Arckey, who helped her win three gold medals and one silver at the Paris Olympics last summer.

And she's eyeing Bob Bowman, who coached American Michael Phelps to a record 23 Olympic gold medals — including eight at the 2008 Beijing Olympics — to help her. Bowman has lots of experience in helping a swimmer with a multi-event program, most recently this past Olympics when Frenchman Leon Marchand won four gold medals.

"Bob coaching the greatest of all time — swimmer Michael Phelps — being able to do all those events is definitely an attraction," McIntosh said. "As I move forward to my career, I still want to continue to develop other events.

"Just to reflect on the past almost three years I've been in Sarasota, I've grown so much as a person and a swimmer. Coach Brent really pushed me to be the best swimmer I could be. I will forever cherish my years here. It's been a great run."

McIntosh will continue training with Arckey as she prepares for the world championships in Singapore at the end of July, and Arckey is expected to be on site as part of the Canadian coaching team.

McIntosh expects to visit the University of Texas in early March, where Bowman leads the swim program and also runs a professional program. She said she's not interested in joining an NCAA program, but because of strict NCAA recruitment guidelines Bowman cannot comment on McIntosh.

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"I'm figuring out a pro team that I could join," McIntosh said. "The NCAA is a great option but for me personally, I think a pro team makes more sense because it has a lot more flexibility and it's a lot more individual." 

"Obviously I'm brainstorming ideas on where I should be going to not just continue as a swimmer, but also develop as a human being and where might be a good place for me," McIntosh said. 

Bowman served as a coach on the U.S. Olympic team from 2004-2016, and was head coach at Arizona State University from 2015 to 2024. The 59-year-old moved to U of Texas last year and leads what is widely regarded as the top training group in the world, including Marchand, and Regan Smith and Simone Manuel of the U.S.

Arckey said he can't think of many coaches or places in the world that would suit McIntosh better than Bowman and the University of Texas.

"If you can find me a better place then I'm all ears," he said. "It's a great opportunity. I've been supportive of this the entire time. I want to make sure she's going somewhere where she's going to get better and spread her wings. It's only a reflection on us.

"I've had the opportunity to work with Bob and I have nothing but respect for Bob. When Summer started talking about all of this, this was certainly one of the options that we threw out there."