Canada’s youngest swimmer, Summer McIntosh, is set to make a splash at the Tokyo Olympics

At age 14, Summer McIntosh is about to take her first long trip away from family and compete in her first major international swimming competition. It is a small event called the Tokyo Olympics.

Summer is a ninth-grader from Toronto who stole the show at Canadas recent Olympic swimming trials touching the wall before Rio Olympic star Penny Oleksiak in one of her wins. She wears colorful masks adorned with glittering jewels and is fond of animals, including a family cat named Mikey (after Michael Phelps, of course). She has a mother who swam in the 1984 Olympics and a family that supports her without limits.

She’s made dramatic progress since coming to train just over a year ago at the Ontario High Performance Center in east Toronto, with renowned coach Ben Titley and several of Canada’s fastest swimmers. They care for her like a little sister and respect her as a fierce competitor. The Olympics will be her first time representing Canada. She was officially selected to the 26-man swim team alongside Olympic medalists such as Ms. Oleksiak, Kylie Masse and Brent Hayden.

Summer will be Canada’s youngest swimmer at these Games and likely the country’s youngest athlete. The 5-foot-8 teen is slated to swim the 200-, 400- and 800-meter freestyle races. Shell is also a key member of the women’s 4x200m freestyle relay team, an event in which Canada took bronze in 2016.

To be honest, it doesn’t feel real at all yet. It felt like a blur, she told reporters during the trials last week. It’s been a crazy year for everyone. I’m just very happy.

The pandemic has not been easy for the McIntosh family. Summers’ father, Greg, was diagnosed with cancer a few months ago and when he began treatment, he moved alone to a place near the hospital. With his therapy progressing well, he recently moved back into their Etobicoke home when Summer and her mother, Jill, moved into a poolside apartment to keep everyone at home (including Summer’s 16-year-old sister, Brooke, an elite figure skater) protected. while Summer traveled to and from training every day.

During the biggest races of her life last week, her family and friends were unable to attend. The trials were held under strict pandemic protocols, with no fans allowed. Music and recorded cheers made up for the empty stands as swimmers’ families virtually appeared at the pool on a large video screen. Jill waited in the parking lot, watched the races on her phone, and jogged on nearby trails until her daughter jumped out the door for a ride home.

Summer also begins her Olympic journey without her family. All told, you’ll be away for four weeks, starting with a pre-Olympic training camp under strict health protocols in Vancouver. The team says it will find a safe way to visit Summer’s mother before she leaves for Tokyo, where athletes’ families are not allowed.

Ben has been incredible with Summer and he has taken her swimming to the next level, says Ms. McIntosh. The swimmers look out for her as if she were their sister. That she goes to Tokyo alone, I feel so comforted by the people around her.

Long before Summer had the chance to work under Mr. Titley trained in a group of elite swimmers such as Ms. Oleksiak, Ms. Masse, Taylor Ruck, Rebecca Smith and Kayla Sanchez, she began taking swimming lessons with her older sister. That was not her only activity, she also did figure skating, horseback riding and gymnastics, but it eventually became her favorite.

Summer started training at the Lakeshore Swim Club when she was 7, and she made significant progress under her coach, sharpening both her strokes and her work ethic. Three years later, she dropped out of everything else and entered a competitive program at the Etobicoke Swim Club (ESwim), coached by Kevin Thorburn, who was known for developing kids into national champions and Olympians.

The summer started to dominate the competition, especially on the longer distances. She rewrote the national swimming record books on various strokes and distances for women in the 11-12 and 13-14 age groups.

Then, in April 2020, shortly after the pandemic began, Mr Thorburn died unexpectedly at the age of 63.

His death was clearly very hard on everyone, including Summer, her mother says. His swimmers couldn’t hug each other like teammates to comfort each other because it was during COVID. It was very difficult to get through.

While the pools were closed for nearly four months, Summer trained as best she could, swimming between the docks in the lake at her family’s cottage and in the pool in their backyard, tethered to a chain. She practiced on dry land with Brooke, a pair skater who has competed in Junior World Championships and Youth Olympics.

Then her parents contacted Swimming Canada to see if Summer could work with Mr. Titley, the same coach who developed Ms. Oleksiak for her achievement of four medals in the Rio Olympics at age 16. Summer was already on Mr. Titleys, and she soon joined his group of top swimmers, including Ms. Oleksiak, whom Summer had met as a nine-year-old spectator at the 2016 Olympics. They even snapped a photo together. Now, here they were, training at the same pool.

Within two months, we started seeing things in training, and we were like, this kid can make the team, remembers Mr. Titley.

Initially, they had her linked to the distance events. But in early 2021, in the 200m freestyle, DST started to accelerate dramatically from the 2 minutes and 3 seconds I had swam. Still, they didn’t expect to be one of Canada’s top two in that event leading up to Tokyo. Fast-forward to last Sunday in the Canadian trials, when Summer won the 200m freestyle in 1 minute 56.19 seconds, past the 1.80 meter tall Ms. Oleksiak, who finished second at 1:57.24. Both ran under the Olympic qualifying time (1:57.28), and 21-year-old Ms. Oleksiak raved about the youngster: My biggest competitor is the shortest person in the pool right now.

She’s not dying, it’s all gas, no brakes with her, Ms Oleksiak added. I like her work ethic. She is mentally really strong in and out of the pool. I just love her.

The following night, Summer beat another group of swimmers in the 800-meter freestyle in 8 minutes, 29.28 seconds, well below the Olympic qualifying time and six seconds faster than her previous record set last month.

I don’t even remember what I did when I was 14; I’m not even sure I took swimming seriously, says Ms. Masse, bronze medalist in the 100m backstroke in Rio. I think when her name starts to get out and she’s so young of course, it’s important for the older people on the team to just try to keep things as normal for her as possible.

When she won the 200 meters, her father appeared on the video board, pumping his fist in celebration. During her 800m win, two of her best friends came to the fore, beaming and wiping away tears. Still reeling from the second win, Summer donned a red mask decorated with glittering silver stones, one of several glittering masks made for her by a dear friend in their family’s figure skating circle. She wore it for her short post-race interviews, during which, of course, reporters compared her rise to Ms. Oleksiaks via video call.

When I took a picture with her, I never thought I’d make the team five years later, Summer says, referring to their photo together in 2016. I totally remember looking at her. [in Rio]. I was like, oh my god. I love watching her race. She really inspired me, and she still inspires me.

For someone who has just completed her freshman year of high school, Summer is extremely organized when she arrives at the pool and starts her prepool practice right away. As for Mr. Titley, he’s trying to save her from too much media attention, but he knows it won’t be easy.

That attention is a lot for a young person to orientate, and I think she already felt a little more weight of expectation before her second race. [at trials], says mr. Titley, although he adds that she still managed to win and qualify. When you talk to her, there is a steely look on her face. She reminds me of a great white shark, that’s how I describe her. Just so focused on what she wants to do.

Balanced summer training this year with virtual studies at the Etobicokes Silverthorn Collegiate Institute, which provides flexible learning opportunities for elite athletes. She hasn’t attended personal high school yet, but hopes next year. What comes next, Summer hasn’t given it much thought, though her mother swam at the University of Florida after finishing ninth in the 200-meter butterfly at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics when she was 17.

Summer is Canada’s youngest Olympic swimmer since Robin Corsiglia (in Montreal, 1976) and Barbara Hounsell (in Tokyo, 1964), who were both 13. There will be younger athletes in Tokyo, including 12-year-old Syrian table tennis player Hend Zaza and skateboarders Sky Park from Great Britain (12) and Rayssa Leal from Brazil (13).

Mr Titley says summer is not fast enough right now for individual medals in Tokyo, but for racing against superstars such as American Katie Ledecky, whose 800m freestyle gold medal swim in Rio was 8 minutes, 4.79 seconds. On the other hand, few predicted that Ms. Oleksiak would medal in her solo events in 2016; and the same goes for Ms Ledecky as a 15-year-old Olympic rookie in London 2012.

Medal or not, Summer returns home from Tokyo, enjoys her 15th birthday in August, spends time with her family and goes to the cottage with her friends.

She’s also our free-spirited kid, her mom says. She enjoys relaxing as much as she enjoys working hard.

Sign up for The Globes Olympic newsletter and follow all the news, news and opinions leading up to the Summer Games in Tokyo.