Winning machine Summer McIntosh offers her medals to the public

Summer McIntosh is no stranger to swimming fans, but she's entered a new dimension in recent days. For almost a week now, the 18-year-old Canadian has been dazzling the National Championships with her immense talent. In the space of five days, she's broken five records.

It started last Saturday in the 400m freestyle, where she set a new world record time by more than a second (3:54.18, compared to 3:55.38 for Australian Ariarne Titmus). She did the same on Monday in the 200m medley (2:05.70), then on Wednesday in the 400m medley (4:23.65) . In the meantime, she set two Canadian records, in the 800m freestyle on Sunday (8:05.07) and in the 200m butterfly on Tuesday (2:02.26).

Already a four-time long course world champion (twice in the 200m butterfly and twice in the 400m medley) and three-time Olympic champion (200m butterfly, 200m medley and 400m medley), Summer McIntosh boasts a stunning list of achievements, which she shares with her fans.

As reported by CBC Sports reporter Devin Heroux, the young swimmer established a ritual during the National Championships, held in Victoria (British Columbia, in the far southwest of the country): after each record broken, she went to meet the crowd to offer her newly won gold medal to a child or teenager. This boosted local enthusiasm around her.

This is not Summer McIntosh's first attempt, as she performed the same action last year, during the previous edition.

The National Championships serve as a dress rehearsal for Canadian swimmers, one month before the World Championships scheduled for July 11 to August 3 in Singapore.