SwimSwam McIntosh Closes Canadian Trials With Another World Record; Milak Out of World Championships

McIntosh Lowers 400 IM WR, Nears Historic 200 Fly Mark: Summer McIntosh closed out her phenomenal performance at the Canadian Swimming Trials last week with two more historic swims, narrowly missing the super-suited world record in the 200 fly before downing her own all-time mark in the 400 IM.

Also: Reigning Olympic champion Kristof Milak withdraws from the World Championships, 40 swimmers are named to the Australian team for the World Championships, and the fundraising efforts to Cal Poly Swim & Dive program fall short.

McIntosh Wraps Historic Canadian Trials With Two More Records

Summer McIntosh became the first swimmer since Michael Phelps at the 2008 Olympics to break three individual long course world records at the same meet last week at the Canadian Swimming Trials in Victoria, following up on her swims in the 400 free (3:54.18) and 200 IM (2:05.70) with a third world record in the 400 IM.

McIntosh powered her way to a time of 4:23.65, knocking more than seven-tenths off her previous world record of 4:24.38 set at the 2024 Canadian Olympic Trials. The 18-year-old is now the fastest swimmer in history by 2.73 seconds, with Katinka Hosszu ranking a distant 2nd at 4:26.36, while the next-fastest active swimmer is Australian Kaylee McKeown, who has been as fast as 4:28.22 but has said she won't race individual medley in international competition anymore.

McIntosh's swim in the 400 IM came one day after she took a run at the vaunted world record in the 200 fly, as she put up a time of 2:02.26 for the second-fastest swim in history, only trailing the super-suited mark of 2:01.81 set by China's Liu Zige in 2009. The performance marks the first sub-2:03 in a textile suit, as McIntosh lowers her own Commonwealth and Canadian Records of 2:03.03, set en route to winning gold at the Paris Olympics.

Three new National Records fell on the men's side of the competition, with Ethan Ekk taking down the 200 back mark (1:56.54), Ilya Kharun shattering his own record in the 50 fly (22.68), and Antoine Sauve lowering Brent Hayden's 17-year-old Canadian Record in the 200 free by one one-hundredth in 1:46.39 from the 'B' final.

After the conclusion of the meet, Swimming Canada announced a 28-strong roster for the 2025 World Championships in Singapore. The Canadian team will head to a staging camp in Suga, Japan, from July 17-23 before pool swimming at Worlds begins on July 26.

Kristof Milak To Miss Third Straight LC World Championships

Reigning Olympic gold medalist and current world record holder Kristof Milak has withdrawn from the 2025 World Championships in Singapore, marking the third straight LC Worlds he'll miss after sweeping the men's 100 and 200 fly on home soil in 2022.

Milak’s coach, Almos Szabo, revealed the superstar’s absence at the upcoming championships on Hungarian National Sports Radio: “We discussed this. Kristof has indicated this intention, and I support him in this,” Szabo said, according to M4 Sport.

“Everyone should put their hand on their heart, there have been times when things didn’t go as planned, and this isn’t even the case here, because we didn’t start the year with 100% confidence that we would be competing in the World Championship.

“I don’t find anything wrong with Kristof not being there at the World Championships, many top athletes, especially those who are as successful as him, have already chosen this path.”

After winning Olympic gold in the 200 fly in 2021 and sweeping the 100 and 200 fly at the 2022 World Championships, setting a new world record in the latter, the Hungarian withdrew from the 2023 Worlds in Fukuoka citing mental and physical fatigue.

Then, like many of the world’s top swimmers, he did not compete at the 2024 World Championships in Doha, which, in a unique circumstance, were held just five months before the Olympics.

Returning for the Olympics in Paris, Milak won gold in the 100 fly with the second-fastest swim of his career in 49.90, and he earned silver in the 200 fly, flipping his results from Tokyo where he was victorious in the 200 fly and finished in the runner-up position in the 100 fly.

“No one disputes his abilities, Kristof has a unique talent, the mental part is the hardest for him,” Szabo continued. “He needs rest, and only he will know when that certain flame will flare up. When it does, he will start at the world competitions and will probably be outstanding there.”

Read more here.

McKeown, O'Callaghan & Chalmers Headline Australian Worlds Roster

Swimming Australia announced its 40-member roster for the 2025 World Championships following the conclusion of the Australian Swimming Trials on Saturday.

The six-day competition featured several standout performances, including a backstroke sweep from Kaylee McKeown and a distance free trifecta for Lani Pallister on the women's side.

McKeown, who, as reported in last week's newsletter, opened the meet with wins in the women's 50 back (27.33) and 100 back (57.71), completed the sweep in the 200 back, posting a world-leading time of 2:04.47.

Mollie O'Callaghan qualified for four individual events at Worlds, winning the women's 100 free (52.87) and setting a world-leading mark in the 200 free (1:54.43), while she was 2nd to McKeown in the 50 and 100 back.

Pallister was on fire throughout the meet, winning the women's 400 free (3:59.72), 800 free (8:10.84) and 1500 free (15:39.14) and placing 2nd in the 200 free (1:54.89), setting new Australian Records in the 800 and 1500 free and hitting new best times in all four.

On the men's side, Cameron McEvoy set a world-leading time in the 50 free (21.30) with Kyle Chalmers setting a personal best (21.68) to place 2nd, while Chalmers also had an impressive swim in the 100 free, clocking 47.29 to narrowly miss his season-best of 47.27 set in April.

Sam Short was another standout, setting season-best times en route to winning the men's 400 free (3:41.03), 800 free (7:40.95) and 1500 free (14:52.43) while hitting a personal best of 1:45.71 to place 2nd in the 200 free.

Check out the full World Championship roster here.

Cal Poly Rejects Millions Raised To Save Swim & Dive Program

Cal Poly President Jeffrey D. Armstrong announced Monday that the efforts to save the school's swim & dive program have "fallen well short" and therefore, the teams will not be revived.

"While I appreciate the significant annual support and revocable bequests that have been identified, the fundraising effort has fallen well short of the goal to reinstate the program," Armstrong said. "As a result, the university is unable to reinstate the swimming and diving programs."

After initially giving the Save Cal Poly Swim & Dive group a $25 million benchmark to save the program, Armstrong revised the goal to $20 million less than two months ago with a deadline of June 15.

The Save Cal Poly Swim & Dive Instagram advertised Sunday as the last day to donate, and the group's website's most recent update said they had $6 million left to raise by June 15.

Although the exact amount of money raised to save the program is unconfirmed, one source told SwimSwam $10 million was raised. The endowment return on $10 million would more than cover the budget shortfall Armstrong said the school incurred due to the House settlement ($450,000 annually).

"The university made several changes in good faith throughout the effort, including implementing multiple extensions to the deadline dates and lowering the threshold of permanent funds for an endowment to the absolute minimum that would be required to realistically support the programs," Armstrong said.

"I know this is difficult news for participants and supporters of the programs, and we want to recognize and again express our appreciation for the work they have done. This is an unfortunate reality given the approved NCAA House settlement, state budget and the tenuous situation moving forward for both the state and the NCAA. I want to reiterate that the significant and unequitable changes in the NCAA and the House settlement (and new organizations resulting from this settlement) had an impact that weighed heavily in this decision."

Last week, Cal Poly Athletic Director Don Oberhelman announced his retirement after 15 years at the helm.

Read more here.

Quick Hits

• Club Wolverine has parted ways with head coach Jim Whitehead, who led the club for more than two years. Tony Carroll has been promoted to interim head coach.
• Gary Taylor, who was serving as the head coach of Cavalier Aquatics and is an associate head coach at the University of Virginia, is currently serving a two-year probation period after admitting to emotional abuse of athletes. Since the news became public, Taylor has been removed from the Cavalier Aquatics website.
• USA Swimming announced its coaching staff for the 2025 World Championships, with eight assistants joining previously-named head coach Todd DeSorbo: Ron Aitken, Herbie Behm, Courtney Caldwell, Ray Looze, Anthony Nesty, Jim Nickell, Erik Posegay and Noah Yanchulis.
• USA Swimming has also announced a 40-swimmer roster for the 2025 World University Games, which will run from July 17-23 in Berlin.
• A group of eight female athletes has filed an objection to the settlement in the House v. NCAA case.
• The NCAA has released a detailed 36-page question-and-answer guide outlining how the House v. NCAA settlement will be implemented across Division I college athletics.
• Australian Olympic champion Ariarne Titmus, who is sitting out this year's World Championships, has said the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles will be her last.
• Reigning world champion Hugo Gonzalez missed out on qualifying for the World Championships at the Spanish Summer Champs in Mallorca.
• Eleven swimmers have qualified for the French World Championship team through the first three days of competition in Montpellier, with the fourth night of finals currently underway.
• The University of Tennessee has extended the contract of head swimming & diving coach Matt Kredich through the 2029-2030 academic year.
• Alec Enyeart will return to the University of Texas next season after taking the 2024-25 campaign off in order to reset at home. Enyeart swam two years for the Longhorns, including winning the 2024 Big 12 title in the men's 1650 free.

Summer McIntosh Posts 4:23.65 400 IM to Break Her Own World Record

Summer McIntosh Smashes Own Canadian Record in the 200 Fly With 2:02.26 Performance

Cam McEvoy, Kyle Chalmers, Kaylee McKeown Headline 40-Strong Aussie Worlds Roster

Cal Poly Rejects Millions Raised To Save Swimming & Diving Program

Reigning Olympic Champion Kristof Milak Withdraws From 2025 World Championships

Club Wolverine Parts Ways with Head Coach Jim Whitehead

USA Swimming Names Coaching Staff for 2025 World Championships

Swimming Canada Names 28 To 2025 World Championship Team