Summer McIntosh Fails to Qualify for 400m Freestyle A Final at Pan Pacifics
World record holder Summer McIntosh placed ninth in the 400m freestyle prelims at the Pan Pacific Championships, missing the eight-swimmer A final by 0.20 seconds.
Canada's Summer McIntosh, the current world record holder in the women's 400m freestyle, finished ninth in the preliminaries of the event at the 2026 Pan Pacific Championships in Irvine, California, with a time of 4:08.56. The top eight qualifiers for the A final included Katie Ledecky, Erika Fairweather, Kennedi Dobson, Lani Pallister, María Fernanda Costa, Moesha Johnson, Ichika Kajimoto and Fan Yaqi, who edged McIntosh by 0.20 seconds.
McIntosh, who set a world record of 3:54.18 in 2025 and won the 400m freestyle title at the 2025 World Championships, also earned a silver medal in the 200m freestyle earlier in the meet, finishing in 1:53.87 behind Australia's Lani Pallister. She contributed a 1:55.82 split on the second leg of Canada's 4×200m freestyle relay.
The Canadian swimmer set a championship record in the 400m individual medley the previous night, posting a time of 4:28.01. However, she missed the A final in the 400m freestyle after a slower heat performance, despite having knowledge of earlier qualifying times.
McIntosh currently leads the world rankings in the 400m freestyle this season, with a 3:55.37 swim at the U.S. Open in December that ranks as the second-fastest performance in history. She withdrew from the Canadian trials earlier in the year due to illness after breaking the 200m butterfly world record.
The swimmer may opt to skip the B final in the 400m freestyle to concentrate on the 200m individual medley scheduled for the following day.