Young Summer McIntosh, born in Toronto, Ontario on Aug. 18, 2006, was inspired to be a swimmer at an early age. She began competitively swimming when she was eight-years-old. She was inspired when she had the opportunity to watch the 2016 Olympic Trials in person.

Summer McIntosh has been surrounded by olympians her whole life. Her mother, Jill McIntosh, formerly known as Jill Horstead, was a swimmer on the Canadian Olympic team in the 1980s. She competed in the Pan Am Games, a multi-sport event for athletes every four years, in Venezuela at 16, finishing fourth in the 200m butterfly, four laps. She also competed in the Los Angeles Summer Games in 1984, where she won a 200m breaststroke final to finish in ninth place. She then earned a bronze medal in the same competition at the Commonwealth Games, a multi-sport event held every four years that promotes friendship and fair play, in 1986.

Summers McIntosh’s sister, Brooke McIntosh, is building a figure skating career. In 2018, Brooke McIntosh captured a gold medal in the novice class and broke a Canadian record at the 2018 Canadian Championships. She went on to win the 2022 Canadian National Junior Championships with her partner Benjamin Mimar. Her family holds many achievements. Summer McIntosh says her father, Greg McIntosh, is very supportive when it comes to her progression as a world class athlete. Greg McIntosh used to play sports during his high school career. There is little debate that Summer McIntosh comes from an athletic and supportive family, according to sportingnews.com.

Tokyo 2020
At age 14, Summer McIntosh became a contender for Tokyo 2020, making her a part of Team Canada in May 2021. During this competition, she was the youngest athlete on the team. Even at such a young age, she finished fourth in the 400m freestyle (eight laps) individually, Along with this, she was the leadoff swimmer, the first swimmer on a relay, and placed fourth for the 4x200m freestyle relay. Unfortunately, she came one place short in advancing to the 200m freestyle final and ended up competing in the 800m freestyle (16 laps). Summer McIntosh then finished ninth overall in the 200m freestyle with a time of 1:56.1 and 11th in the 800m freestyle with a time of 8:25.04. Already, in the time of her young career, Summer McIntosh has broken more than 75 Canadian Age Group records, according to olympic.ca.

Paris 2024
She secured her spot on the first Olympic team when she won the 200m freestyle at the Canadian Olympic Trials in June 2021. Summer McIntosh then went on to win gold for the 200m butterfly, 200m individual medley and the 400m individual medley. She then won silver in the 400m freestyle in the French capital for women. She placed fourth in the 4x100m freestyle relay, the 4x200m freestyle relay and the 4×100 medley relay for women. During this, Summer McIntosh was competing against her idol, Katie Ledecky. She not only met her idol but ended up beating her to silver during the women’s 400m freestyle, with her 18th birthday being just one week after the Olympics were set to finish, according to olympics.com.