Fresh off Olympic swim record, McIntosh posts top time in 200m medley heats

Canadian swimmers Summer McIntosh and Sydney Pickrem have advanced to the semifinals of the women’s 200-metre individual medley at the Olympic Games in Paris.

McIntosh and Pickrem won their respective morning heats. McIntosh posted the fastest qualifying time and Pickrem the fourth heading into the evening semifinals.

McIntosh has already won a pair of gold medals and a silver medal in the pool.

After a slow start, McIntosh worked her way to second spot after the opening 50 metres of the butterfly, 2-100ths of a second behind Slovakia’s Tamara Potocka.

By end of the backstroke, the Canadian was in front by 1.36 seconds over Yiting Yu of China.

“Summer McIntosh has a world-class backstroke but she can only do so many events,” CBC Sports analyst Byron MacDonald said in-race.

After the breastroke, McIntosh’s lead had dwindled to 23-100ths over Ella Ramsay of Australia, but she held strong through the freestyle and touched the wall in two minutes 9.90 seconds — first among 33 athletes — to beat Yu (2:10.28).

“The breaststroke is the key for Summer winning the 200 IM,” MacDonald said. “It’s the breaststroke that has come so far [for her] in the last 18 months and it’ll be the one that dictates how well she does in vying for the [medal] podium come the finals [Saturday].”

McIntosh no doubt will have plenty in reserve for Friday’s 3:31 p.m. ET semifinals after swimming a personal best of 2:06.89 on March 30, 2023 in Toronto.

Pickrem wins late battle with U.S. rival

Pickrem qualified fourth for the semifinals. After failing to advance to the eight-woman 200 breaststroke final by one spot on Wednesday, she led Rebecca Meder of South Africa by 51-100ths through that leg of Friday’s medley.

Then, Pickrem waged a battle with American Kate Douglass late in the freestyle and emerged victorious in 2:10.63, 7-100ths faster than the 2021 Olympic bronze medallist.

It was a measure of revenge for Pickrem, who was second to Douglass by 1.51 seconds in February while setting a 2:08.56 PB in the medley final at the World Aquatics Championships in Doha, Qatar.

“You don’t want to go 100 per cent [in the heats], you want to save your energy [for the semifinals] but you gotta do something to put yourself in a position to advance,” said MacDonald. “Sydney Pickrem did that.

“A nice, easy, relaxed butterfly [leg]. It wasn’t quite with the leaders but [she] moves up really well in the backstroke, a stroke she’s been working on to get better at.”

Pickrem, 27, is a dual Canadian-American citizen who was born in Florida and whose family is from Halifax. In September, she will move to West Virginia to work in coaching.

Toronto’s Josh Liendo and Montreal’s Ilya Kharun were first and second in their heat and moved onto the men’s 100-metre butterfly semifinals with the second and fifth fastest qualifying times respectively.

Canada’s mixed medley relay team of Maggie Mac Neil, Taylor Ruck, Apollo Hess and Blake Tierney advanced to Saturday’s final with the sixth-fastest time.

Liendo was also scheduled to race in the men’s 50-metre freestyle final in the evening. Kylie Masse of LaSalle, Ont., in women’s 200-metre backstroke and Finlay Knox of Okotoks, Alta., in the men’s 200-metre individual medley also had finals at night.

Slovakia’s Tamara Potocka collapses after heat race

Slovakia swimmer Tamara Potocka collapsed poolside after a qualifying heat of the women’s 200-metre individual medley and was given first aid and then carried off on a stretcher.

Potocka, 21, was seen wearing an oxygen mask as she was taken away for medical attention. Medical personal at the pool said she was conscious.

Potocka collapsed as she got out of the water and almost immediately was surrounded by a half-dozen medical attendants who put her on a stretcher after about a minute and carried her off the pool deck.

It was not clear if she received CPR.

Israeli swimmer Lea Polonsky, who swam two heats after Potocka, said swimmers know their sport has inherent risks.

“Of course that’s something in the back of your mind, but we do every day push ourselves to the limit,” she added. “You always know something like that can happen. It’s not something you think about during the race, but it’s always there.”

This is Potocka’s first Olympics. She resides in the Slovakian capital of Bratislava.

Potocka finished seventh in her heat in a time of two minutes 14.20 seconds. Her time was not fast enough to advance her to the semifinals of the event, which eliminated her from the competition.