Ailing Summer McIntosh forced to miss Toronto stop of World Aquatics Swimming World Cup

An undisclosed illness has forced Canadian swim star Summer McIntosh to withdraw from all three World Aquatics Swimming World Cup events, including the final stop in Toronto.

The 19-year-old missed the opening event this weekend in Indianapolis, and has confirmed to CBC Sports that will not compete in the Oct. 17-19 meet in Westmont, Ill., near Chicago, nor the final event at Toronto's Pan Am Sports Centre Oct. 23-25

Through a spokesperson, McIntosh said "she's especially disappointed" to miss the opportunity to race in front of hometown fans, but she hasn't been able to train and is focusing on rest and recovery to return to the pool.

This was meant to be the first international competition for McIntosh under the guidance of coach Bob Bowman, who coached American Michael Phelps to an Olympic-record 23 gold medals. McIntosh moved to Austin, Texas to train with Bowman at the end of August.

The three-stop World Cup tour, featuring Olympic and world champion swimmers, has a total purse price of $1.2-million (all figures US), with $10,000 for any world records.

McIntosh was just one of a handful of Canadians who signed up for at least one stop of the tour. Josh Liendo, Kylie Masse, Mary-Sophie Harvey and Ilya Kharun are among some of the other Canadian swimmers who will be competing in the World Cup.

Kharun won back-to-back gold medals to begin the tour, including a victory in the 200m butterfly on Saturday before winning the 50m fly to close out action on Sunday.

International standout swimmers included Leon Marchand, Noe Ponti, Mollie O’Callaghan, Regan Smith, Thomas Ceccon and Kaylee McKeown.