Summer McIntosh returns to competition after world record-breaking performances at national trials

A month after breaking two world records and another five world junior records at the national swim trials, Canadian phenom Summer McIntosh was back in race mode competing at the Atlanta Classic this weekend. 

But unlike the trials at the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre at the end of March and beginning of April where she stunned the swimming world with her remarkable performances, the focus shifted a little during this weekend's event — it was about getting in meaningful race reps in events she doesn't normally compete in but are a part of the medleys. 

McIntosh's head coach Brent Arckey explains to CBC Sports they wanted to hone in on the breast and backstrokes this weekend to improve her individual medleys — McIntosh broke Katinka Hosszú's seven-year world record in the 400-metre IM on April 1.

"She took a couple of days to take a deep breath, which was obviously much needed after all of that," Arckey said. 

"We went back to work and we've been working really hard. There are some little things we've been working on and we want to see how those are looking in a race situation. But really we're looking for race reps before we go back to a big block of work leading into the world championship."

WATCH | Relive McIntosh's 400m IM world record poolside with her family in the stands:

McIntosh had a busy program throughout the weekend meet in Atlanta that began on Friday night. She started with the 100m breaststroke, posting a time of 1:10.77, which was just behind her personal best time in the event of 1:10.39.

On the same night she then competed in the 100m fly, finishing second in a time of 57.86 — that is a personal best time in the event for McIntosh. 

"The best part about Summer is that she's good at so many things.