The Vortex News

The Vortex - November 2025: McIntosh Joins Team Arena

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by Craig Lord

published November 07, 2025

Summer McIntosh, the Canadian three-times Olympic champion at Paris 2024 and four-times World champion with five solo podiums at Singapore 2025, has joined Team arena.

With a pantheon already heavy with honours, McIntosh, one of the most versatile swimming champions in history, is still 19 years old. As arena notes: she is "currently ranked as a top 5 performer of all-time in 6 LCM events"

Those are: 200, 400 and 1500m freestyle, 200m butterfly and the 200 and 400m medley.

In its announcement, arena explained the background to McIntosh's arrival on its team of sponsored swimmers: "Over the past few months, Summer has had the opportunity to test a wide range of arena products — both for training and racing. Among them, she previewed a new competition suit prior to its official release, offering exceptional feedback on its performance and fit. This suit, engineered for great compression without compromising comfort, will be officially launched by arena soon."

For her part, Summer McIntosh said:

“For me, arena has always been a benchmark in swimming. It’s a brand I feel connected to because it pays attention to the needs of both champions and everyone who loves the water. Personally, I believe performance starts with comfort. When I’m racing, I can’t afford to be distracted by a suit that doesn’t fit well—every detail matters. When I wear arena, I feel free to fully focus on my race, knowing that my suit provides the right compression to push my limits and the comfort to have zero distractions. That combination is what truly makes the difference.”

Mark Pinger, arena's Chief Brand Officer, noted:

“We are very proud to support Summer, who currently holds six world records. Summer embodies arena's core values and stands out due to her exceptional determination and mindset. Furthermore, she is a strong role model for the next generation of global swimmers. Her talent, relentless drive for improvement, and maturity perfectly reflect arena's mission to support athletes in reaching their full potential."

A short trawl of the 'Dominant Career of Summer McIntosh'

Summer McIntosh debuted at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics at just 14. Her ascent to the elite level has been lightning-fast, says arena ahead of this:

Winning Debut: At the 2022 World Championships in Budapest, she won two Golds (200m butterfly and 400m Individual Medley (IM)).
World Records: In 2023, she set two World Records (400m freestyle and 400m IM) at the Canadian Trials and in 2024 she lowered her World Record in the 400m IM.
Paris 2024: She made history by becoming the first Canadian athlete to win three Golds at a single Olympic Games (200m and 400m IM, 200m butterfly); and a Silver in 400m freestyle.
Budapest 2024: After the successes in Paris, Summer competed at the SC World Championships in Budapest, concluding the 2024 season by winning 3 Gold medals and setting 3 World Records in the 400 freestyle, 200 butterfly, and 400 IM
2025 Dominance: A few weeks before the Singapore World Championships, at the Canadian Trials, Summer McIntosh stopped the clock and swam a new World Record in the 200m IM, and she improved her own World Records in the 400m freestyle and 400m IM. She also posted times as the 2^nd fastest performer in history in the 200m butterfly and 800m freestyle.
Singapore 2025: At the World Championships, she won 4 individual Golds (400m freestyle, 200m IM, 400m IM, 200m butterfly) and a Bronze medal in the 800m freestyle.

Wednesday, November 5

Dávid Betlehem 1st To Break 14:30 s/c 1500 free this season

Dávid Betlehem became the first man to race inside 14mins 30 over 1500m freestyle in the short-course pool this year when he clocked as he clocked 14:27.39 for the Hungarian winter crown as the 21st national championships got underway today in Debrecen.

Olympic marathon bronze medallist, Betlehem raced 2.61secs inside the 14:30.00 at which Australian Sam Short has been ranked No1 in the world this season on the strength of his best effort on World Cup tour last month.

Speaking through the Hungarian Federation, Betlehem said:

“This is definitely a message, first and foremost to myself. The others weren’t in the form I would have liked. To be honest, I was a bit bored between eight hundred and a thousand and I had to fight mostly with my own demons. It hurt, and it had been hurting for a long time, but there was no one to watch next to me, so in the end I thought that if I beat everyone else, maybe I could swim an early 14:20 or even better. It didn’t work out, I was already scratching a lot at the end, and it wasn’t the time I wanted. I should go to the European Short Course Championships, where there would be five or six people next to me who know what I do. But maybe I’ll leave it to them now and take a rest, and then next year, at the European Championships in Paris.”

For all other acton - Results in full

Carol ‘Penny’ Taylor Passes Away At 96

Penny Taylor, a 1948 Olympian, long-time coach and a respected swimming official, passed away on November 4 at the age of 96.

Taylor raced at the first post-WWII Olympics of London 1948 under her maiden name of Carol 'Penny' Pence. She competed in the preliminary heats of the 200m breaststroke, clocking 3mins 28.1. Pence swam for the Lafayette Swim Club in Indiana and attended Purdue University. In 1951, when Pence was a finalist for the James E. Sullivan Award, she was part of the U.S. Team for the first Pan American Games in 1951, and claimed gold with mates in the 3×100m medley relay, and bronze in the 200m breaststroke.

After retiring from competition, Pence became a professional swim coach in the St. Louis area for 35 years. One of her pupils was Tom Jager, the World champion and record holding 50m freestyle sprinter and Olympic medallist who also became a coach after his racing days were done.

Taylor served in various roles at USA Swimming, including that of team leader at the Olympic Games of 1984 and 1992, a deck marshal at the 1996 Games and chef de mission at seven World Swimming Championships for Team USA.

Taylor competed in masters swimming for 40 years and was was inducted to the American Swimming Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2013. She was a charter member of the organization and its first female Board of Directors member, often upholding the a significant tradition in American swimming governance: coach involvement, say and vote at the heart of administrations down the decades. It is an aspect of U.S. governance that has faltered of late.

For her services, Taylor was awarded the 1999 United States Swimming Award.

Among tributes, John Leonard, the retired former head of the American Swimming Coaches Association (ASCA) summed up the feelings of man when he noted:

"Swimming’s great friend Penny Taylor has passed. It is hard to imagine anyone who has ever been a more dedicated contributor as an athlete, coach, official, manager and most, especially , a friend to so many. The sport and all of your many friends and lives that you touched Will remember you forever. Thank you, Coach Penny."