Commonwealth Games swimming preview: Liendo's time to shine

The Commonwealth Games begin this Thursday in Glasgow, Scotland, bringing together some 3,000 athletes from 74 countries to compete in 10 different sports over the course of 11 days.

In terms of scale and public interest, the Commonwealths are of course much smaller than the Summer Olympics. But something they have in, well, common is that swimming and track and field are the marquee sports.

With that in mind, we'll look at the Canadians swimmers to watch at the Commonwealth Games today, followed by track and field tomorrow.

Liendo takes the torch from Summer

For many athletes, the Commonwealth Games are a stepping stone to success at the next Olympics. That was certainly the case for Summer McIntosh at the 2022 Commonwealths in Birmingham, England. Just 15 years old at the time, the Canadian swimming phenom won a pair of individual golds and a silver along with three relay medals. Two years later at the Paris Olympics, she captured a Canadian-record three golds and a silver.

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After upgrading her haul to four golds and a silver at last year's world championships, McIntosh now has her sights set on matching Michael Phelps' Olympic record of five solo golds at the 2028 Games in Los Angeles. However, the Commonwealth Games are not part of her journey this time as she's opted to compete in next month's Pan Pacific championships in California instead.

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Also skipping the Commonwealths for the Pan Pacs is Taylor Ruck, who racked up a record-trying eight medals (including relays) at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and won all five of her events at the Canadian trials earlier this month.