Canada's Summer McIntosh wins gold medal in women's 400m individual medley
17-year-old phenom wins 2nd medal after capturing silver in 400m free on Saturday
Canadian phenom Summer McIntosh claimed the first gold medal of her just-burgeoning career Monday night with a dominating victory in the 400-meter individual medley at the Paris Olympics.
The 17-year-old McIntosh collected her first career medal on the opening night of swimming, taking a silver in the 400 freestyle behind Ariarne Titmus — and ahead of Katie Ledecky.
Now, McIntosh has the best colour of all.
"I try to take every event very individually and just do my work, but starting off for me — getting on the podium — is definitely a great way to start," McIntosh said. "You try to continue to get better and better."
She pushed the pace hard through the first half of the grueling race — the butterfly and backstroke legs — to leave everyone in her wake except American Katie Grimes.
"I was very happy to get the job done, to stand on top of the podium and get the gold medal. It's always just about having fun, as well as pushing my body to its limits."
McIntosh was under her own world-record pace, but couldn't keep it going. She touched in 4 minutes, 27.71 seconds, more than three seconds off the mark of 4:24.38 she set at the Canadian trials in May.
But it was more than good enough to vanquish the field in the Olympic final.
McIntosh seemed to take it all in stride. Maybe it's because she competed at the Tokyo Olympics at age 14, so she sort of feels like a veteran now.
"Every single time I get to race on the world stage, I learn more and more about handling mentally and physically and emotionally and trying not to get too high or too low," McIntosh said.
Grimes, who is also swimming the open water event in Paris, held on to claim the silver in 4:33.40. The Americans also grabbed the bronze when Emma Weyant touched in 4:34.93.
She's got a grueling schedule in Paris which includes two more individual races — the 200 butterfly and 200 IM.
There are no plans to celebrate just yet.
"I mean, obviously I'm super happy with this gold," McIntosh said. "But now I'm all about the 200 fly on day five."
"I try to take every event individually, one by one," McIntosh said. "Getting on the podium was a great way to start. I try not to get too high or too low."
Mary-Sophie Harvey 4th in women's 200m freestyle
Mary-Sophie Harvey of Trois-Rivières, Que.,, finished fourth in the women's 200m freestyle final, just 0.74 seconds shy of a podium.
Mollie O'Callaghan lead an Australian 1-2 finish with an Olympic record time of one minute 53.27 seconds, ahead of Ariarne Titmus (1:53.81). Hong Kong's Siobhan Bernardette Haughey took bronze.
Also on Monday, Kylie Masse of Lasalle, Ont., and Calgary's Ingrid Wilm advanced to the women's 100m backstroke in fifth and sixth places, respectively.
The event's final is set for Tuesday at 2.56 p.m. ET.
Another teen rules
David Popovici made the teenagers 2-for-2 on the night when he pulled off a thrilling victory in the men's 200 freestyle.
The 19-year-old Romanian was among three swimmers who swapped the lead back and forth on the final lap. First, it was American Luke Hobson edging in front. Then Britain's Matthew Richards, out in Lane 1, pushed to the lead.
Finally, it was Popovici mustering everything he had to get to the wall in 1:44.72 — a mere two-hundredths ahead of Richards, with Hobson just 0.07 back to earn the bronze.
Britain's Duncan Scott, the silver medallist in Tokyo three years ago, finished in 1:44.87 to miss out on the podium this time. The top four were separated by a mere 0.15 seconds.
Gold for Italy, again
Thomas Ceccon gave Italy its second gold in as many nights, rallying to win the men's 100 backstroke.
The Italian, who has held the world record since the 2022 world championships in Budapest, now has a gold medal to go with it after finishing in 52.00.
Xu claimed the silver (52.32), while the 29-year-old Murphy settled for the bronze for the second Olympics in a row at 52.39.
Ceccon followed Nicolo Martinenghi, who grabbed Italy's first gold at the pool with a victory in the 100 breaststroke Sunday night.
WATCH l McIntosh wins 1st career Olympic medal:
With files from The Canadian Press and CBC Sports
