Canadian teen Summer McIntosh, 17, breaks astonishing Olympic record by almost full second

Canadian teen Summer McIntosh has broken an Olympic Record (OR), swimming the 200 meter butterfly in 2:03.03.

The 17-year-old is now also the first Canadian woman to win two gold medals in one edition of the Olympic Summer Games; Summer – the youngest member of the Canadian delegation – also won gold in the 400m individual medley, and took home a silver in the 400m freestyle.

© Adam Pretty

Summer's record is a family affair as well, as her mom Jill Horstead is also an Olympic swimmer having competed in the 1984 Summer Olympics in the same event.

She came ninth, coming in first in the B Final and clocking a time of 2:13.49.

The previous OR was set in 2020 at 2:03:86, held by Zhang Yufei of China, who came in third in 2024.

Summer was also the leadoff swimmer for the 4x200m freestyle relay; the team placed fourth.

She holds the world record for the 400m individual medley, clocking in at 4:24:38 in May 2024.

© FRANCOIS-XAVIER MARIT

Canada has also won Gold in the Women’s 57kg Judo event with Christa Deguchi, and a silver with the rugby women's sevens team. Eleanor Harvey won bronze for Fencing – women's Individual Foil, as did Rylan Wiens and Nathan Zsombor-Murray for the men's 10m Synchro Diving, and Ilya Kharun for the men's 200m Butterfly swim.

"I have been dreaming of this moment since receiving my first swim lesson badge at 3 years old," Summer told fans two days ago, as she won her first gold.

"It is impossible to express how grateful I am to have always been surrounded by the best, striving towards a common goal. I can truly feel the love and support of my family, friends, teammates, coaches and my country! It is an incredible honour to wear the Maple Leaf. Team Canada is just getting started!!!"

She also shared her support for teammate Illya, reposting Team Canada's graphic and adding heart emojis as he won his bronze medal.