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PARIS — Canadian Summer McIntosh won gold at the 2024 Olympics on Monday, announcing herself as perhaps the best swimmer on the planet.
In the women’s 400m individual medley, the swimmer confidently outpaced her rivals and won in 4:27.71, a couple of seconds shy of her own world record of 4:24.38. Americans Katie Grimes (4:33.40) and Emma Weyant (4:34.93) took silver and bronze respectively.
McIntosh claimed her second of what will likely be four individual medals in Paris.
It would be a remarkable haul, made all the more remarkable by the fact that McIntosh is just 17 years old.
She has been a swimming prodigy since the age of 14, when she made it to the Tokyo Olympics and came close to winning two medals. The following summer, aged 15, she undeterred and won her first two of many world championships. She has since broken several world records. She already has a time in the top five of all time in the 2018 World Championships. six In the 800 freestyle earlier this year, she broke Katie Ledecky’s decade-long streak, but then decided not to compete in Paris because she is even better in the 200 medley, which starts 10 minutes earlier that evening (Saturday).
Her ever-growing greatness is limited only by her busy schedule. McIntosh also could have won a medal in Monday’s 200 freestyle, but she dropped that to focus on the 400 medley.
And in the 400m individual medley, she showed why some competitors practically awarded her the Olympic title before she even hit the pool.
The Toronto native, who now trains in Florida, edged out American teenager Katie Grimes in the wall race by several body lengths. Grimes took silver. Fellow American Emma Weyant took bronze.
McIntosh’s next challenge, after Saturday’s silver in the “Race of the Century” and Monday’s gold, will be Thursday’s 200-meter butterfly. In that event, she is expected to face American star Regan Smith for another title.
