Summer McIntosh had full-body chills.
That’s what happened when she lifted the window cover next to her airplane seat, looked out and saw 3.1-million-square-foot SoFi Stadium. In 2028, the home of the Rams and Chargers will become the first NFL stadium to host Olympic swimming.
“Just imagining two years from now where I’m going to be, and it’s really exciting, and I honestly can’t wait for it,” McIntosh said Monday. “But there’s a lot of steps along the way that have to happen before that happens, of course.”
One of the bigger steps in terms of swim meets is the Pan Pacific Championships, which are in Irvine — 45 minutes down the road from SoFi — from Wednesday through Saturday, live on Peacock and NBCSN.
Pan Pacs marks the biggest meet of 2026 for McIntosh, a 19-year-old Canadian who eyes five individual swimming gold medals in 2028, which would match Michael Phelps’ record.
She entered four races at the much more condensed Pan Pacs — 200m freestyle on Wednesday, 400m individual medley on Thursday, 400m freestyle on Friday (versus Katie Ledecky) and 200m individual medley on Saturday.
She is the world record holder in the last three, plus the fastest in history in the 200m butterfly, an event she dropped from her loaded Pan Pacs lineup.
If Ledecky is the greatest female swimmer of all time, McIntosh is the best of this moment.
McIntosh’s goals at Pan Pacs are the same as any of her major meets — to go personal best times. Which in her case usually means world records.
Except in that first event, the 200m free. McIntosh last swam it at a big meet at the 2023 World Championships, earning bronze in 1:53.65, which remains her personal best. She’s the joint-fifth-fastest woman in history in the event, 1.42 seconds off retired Australian Ariarne Titmus’ world record.
“I’ll be probably the most hyped up for that because I haven’t raced that internationally in a long time,” she said. “So I think that will be the most interesting. I don’t really know what to expect for myself.”
McIntosh put more emphasis on training for the 200m free since she began working with coach Bob Bowman after last summer’s World Championships, where she won four individual gold medals in five races.
The 800m free — the longest event McIntosh has raced at major meets — is of less interest than before. In 2025, she hoped the 800m would be her fifth individual gold at worlds — another feat only Phelps has accomplished.
But Ledecky, undefeated in major meets in the 800m, won an epic over Australian Lani Pallister and McIntosh, who took bronze.
“I’ll remember that feeling forever, not being able to get my hand on the wall first and also not going a best time,” McIntosh said. “I wasn’t happy with how I executed the race. Stuff like that you remember, and that’s what you remember in training to keep pushing and moving forward. When things get tough in training, it definitely motivates you.”
McIntosh didn’t enter the 800m this week — Ledecky and Pallister are expected to go head-to-head on Saturday — and said it’s unlikely she swims it at SoFi in two years.
The 2028 Olympic schedule has the 800m free and 200m fly finals in the same session. The 200m fly is McIntosh’s favorite event, the same one her mom swam at the 1984 LA Games.
Bowman said it wouldn’t be realistic for McIntosh to race both in 2028.
“There’s six, seven events that I could do, so I’m keeping it open right now,” she said. “There’s no full guarantees, and a lot can change in two years.”
Pan Pacs will be an important data point. It’s the first major meet that she’s tapering for under Bowman.
“Quite frankly, I’m trying to figure her out,” Bowman said. “This year, in my mind, is learning how she reacts at one of these meets.”
Bowman already knows McIntosh well enough to compare her to his two most famous pupils. She benefits from swimming genes, like training partner Leon Marchand, who has Olympian parents. She has an all-business mental approach, which reminds Bowman of Phelps.
She’s a natural fit for the mantra Bowman has repeated to his swimmers for decades of practices — “do your work.”
“She’s probably more serious than me,” he said. Before McIntosh, Bowman never had a swimmer who enjoyed the work more than he does.
“Bob is just the most consistent, well-thought-out coach that I’ve ever had,” she said. “Every day he walks on deck, and there’s a purpose in every practice, and there’s also a level of intensity and demand every single practice as well.”
She also pointed to the stars that surround her in Austin, unlike any group she has ever been a part of.
There’s not only Marchand, but also Americans Regan Smith and Simone Manuel and Hungarian Hubert Kos, all Olympic gold medalists, plus top American men Shaine Casas, Carson Foster and Luke Hobson.
“There’s a lot of expectations and pressure that everyone puts on one another to push forward,” McIntosh said, “and I think that’s why we continue to improve and race so well.”
