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Summer McIntosh: “200 Free Is Definitely One Of My Favorite Events” (Knoxville PSS Quotes)

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By Sean Griffin on SwimSwam

2024 PRO SWIM SERIES – KNOXVILLE

The first stop of the 2024 Pro Swim Series has concluded, and many fast swims were posted across the board. USA Swimming and Swimming Canada had the chance to catch up with several of the high performers in Knoxville, and you can see what each of the athletes said below.

While the Knoxville Pro Swim is over, there are two more stops on the docket in the coming months:

  • Pro Swim Series – Westmont, March 6-9
  • Pro Swim Series – San Antonio, April 10-13

Among the athletes who spoke to the media was Summer McIntosh, who claimed three individual wins in Knoxville. She won the 200 butterfly in 2:05.73 on the second night of the competition, before winning the 200 free (1:55.41) and 200 IM (2:07.16) on the final two days. McIntosh emphasized how she got better as the meet went on, and discussed her focus of the final 50 in the 200 IM.

Taylor Ruck also spoke with Swimming Canada, discussing how she felt her meet in Knoxville went. Ruck will be in attendance at the Doha World Championships next month, and mentioned she was not too pleased with her times at this meet. Ruck recently made the move to train with the ASU pro group, in hopes of making her third Olympics Games.

Among the other stars who spoke with their governing bodies: Kate Douglass, Katie Ledecky, Katharine Berkoff, Carson Foster, Maggie MacNeil, Michael Andrew, Tess Cieplucha, Delia Lloyd, and Ashley McMillan.

Katie Ledecky, discussing her overall meet takeaways:

“I think I learned some good things, and I’m excited to get back into training and apply those things and try to get better from here.”

Summer McIntosh discusses her 200 IM battle with Alex Walsh:

“I knew going in that it would come down to the last 50. I think 200 IM is such a fun event because it is kind of a sprint and you’re trying to work transitions in between each stroke and be able to turn over as fast as possible, something that takes a lot to master. I’m just figuring it out and always trying to have a strong finish on that freestyle is something that I’m always focusing on.”

“Overall I’m pretty happy with it. I feel like I got better as the meet went on. Going into this meet I didn’t really have specific expectations on times. I’m always just trying to polish up details and dives and things like that and trying to figure out how I want to swim and execute each race.”

Taylor Ruck talks about her performances:

“I’m not particularly pleased with my performances, but also I understand it’s the time of the year and I just got off a whole bunch of change,” Ruck said. “I’m just happy to be where I’m and just trying to rest in the gratitude of being where I’m at, having stillness and trying to get some work in before worlds.”

“I’m just trying to learn from this meet and then put that into the next few weeks of training before going there [Doha].”

For additional context, Ruck placed 11th in the 50 free (25.62), 13th in the 100 free (55.40), 15th in the 200 free (2:01.33), and 7th in the 100 back (1:01.04) in Knoxville.

Katharine Berkoff, on her 100 backstroke win:

“I’m just trying to have a really strong second half and make sure I was cleaning up the details. I had a good start and turn, so I was pretty happy with it.”

Berkoff swam the same time (59.06) in both prelims and finals, splitting the races nearly identical. In the prelims, she split 28.97/30.09. In the final, she split 28.98/30.08.

Kate Douglass after her 200 breaststroke American record:

“Honestly, I would say an American Record was probably the goal for a little bit later in the season, but I definitely felt like I had the best time in me, especially after the (Toyota) U.S. Open. I felt like I was more prepared for this meet.”

Kate Douglass chats about her meet overall:

“I think this shows that I put in a good few weeks of training after U.S. Open and, you know, if I buckle down and get to work, then the results are kind of what I want them to be.”

Carson Foster talks about his 200 IM race strategy:

“My strategy was to let it flow and get a rhythm. Unfortunately, I didn’t get into the rhythm I would have liked on the first 75. From there, it was kind of just like I panicked a little bit, to be totally honest. So, I’m not super happy with the execution, but getting my hand on the wall first felt good and I was happy about that.”

Michael Andrew’s thoughts about his 50 free finish:

“I feel like it was really in the last 15 meters that I hit my stride. We’ve been working on a lot of new things. I think it’s hard to come to a (TYR) Pro Series like this and not overthink, but it’s good. It’s good training and racing. I’m happy with the time, but I want to be a lot faster. I’m happy, and it’s on to the next one.”

Summer McIntosh on her 1:55.41 200 free win:

“200 free is definitely one of my favorite events. It’s always fun to race and I think it’s one of the most strategic events out there. I’m kind of learning how to figure out the best way to swim it and execute.”

“Right now I’m just focused on the next few meets. After this meet I’m going to be doing a really good training block, so I’m just kind of focusing on where I am in training and kind of figuring out what events to prep for the Games.”

Tess Cieplucha gains confidence from her fastest 400 IM since 2022:

“This morning (4:42.85) was a great swim and coming off a hard last few months of training it was good to put down a fast time in January.”

“Winning, repeating good swims and getting good times under my belt will give me some confidence going into Trials in May.”

Maggie MacNeil discusses her meet as a whole:

“It’s the first time I’ve raced this early in January, so I’ll take it.”

“I did a lot of good work this fall leading up to Pan Ams obviously, which was reflected in my performance. I’ve kind of been in and out of the water a bit the last couple of months with American Thanksgiving and Christmas. I’m definitely excited for the next few months to just focus on training and get ready for Trials.”

Delia Lloyd on her 7th place 200 backstroke performance:

“I think it’s good experience for Trials and bigger meets to be racing girls at that speed, but I wasn’t super happy with that race.”

“It’s good to get racing experience but I think there’s still a bunch of things I need to work on. So it’s good to kind of highlight those things in that race and then I’ll work on them in training. Just my approach through the walls, keeping my speed and my tempo up on the third 50 and carrying that in to the last wall is super important for me to work on.”

Ashley McMillan discusses the HPC-Ontario training group:

“This year I’ve been having a lot more fun and just enjoying the process.”

“This group is super special, everybody works so hard, we all have a common goal and we have so much fun together. I have really great things to say and (Head Coach) Ryan (Mallette) and (Assistant Coach) Rob (Novak) have been awesome.”

SwimSwam: Summer McIntosh: “200 Free Is Definitely One Of My Favorite Events” (Knoxville PSS Quotes)

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