PARIS — Canada’s Summer McIntosh stormed to gold at the 2024 Olympics here on Monday, and announced herself as perhaps the finest female swimmer on the planet.
She confidently outpaced the field in the women’s 400-meter individual medley, and won with a time of 4:27.71, a couple seconds off her own world record of 4:24.38.
She secured 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 swimming's wunderkind ever since the age of 14, when she made the Tokyo Olympics and narrowly missed two medals. The following summer, 15 and unfazed, she won her first two of many world championships. She has since broken multiple world records. She already owns a top-five time in history in six different events. She snapped Katie Ledecky's decade-plus streak in the 800-meter freestyle earlier this year — then chose to skip the event in Paris, because she is even better at the 200 IM, which will take place 10 minutes earlier on the same night (Saturday).
Her greatness, which continues to grow, is limited only by compressed schedules. McIntosh also could have medaled in Monday’s 200 freestyle, but dropped it to focus on the 400 IM.
And in the 400 IM, she showed just why some competitors essentially conceded the Olympic title to her before they even arrived at the pool.
The Toronto native, who now trains in Florida, beat American teen Katie Grimes to the wall by multiple body lengths. Grimes took silver. Fellow American Emma Weyant took bronze.
Next up for McIntosh, after Saturday's silver in the "Race of the Century" and Monday's gold, is the 200-meter butterfly on Thursday. In that event, she's expected to duel with U.S. star Regan Smith for another title.
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