NANTERRE, France — Forget the Summer Games. This might just be Summer’s Games.
Summer McIntosh, the 17-year-old Canadian phenom, won the first Olympic gold medal of her career Monday night in the grueling women’s 400-meter individual medley, touching the wall in 4:27.71.
Americans Katie Grimes (4:33.40) and Emma Weyant (4:34.93) earned silver and bronze, respectively.
Summer McIntosh cruises to a gold medal in the women’s 400m IM! #ParisOlympics | 📺 NBC & Peacock pic.twitter.com/hilI3mkTj3
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) July 29, 2024
McIntosh is the world record-holder and two-time world champion in the event and was considered the heavy favorite in the 400 IM coming into the Paris Olympics. The result is not necessarily a surprise, but the margin was quite impressive. McIntosh said she first realized how big her lead was at the start of the breaststroke leg, and that she knew by the end of it that she was about to win her first gold medal, which led to a very enjoyable final freestyle leg.
Afterward, McIntosh was calm and composed, as she so often is. She achieved the goal she’s set out to achieve. She’s swam this event so many times in major international meets that it didn’t faze her that she’d just swam (and won) it at an Olympics.
She competed in the Tokyo Olympics three years ago, finishing fourth in the women’s 400 free.
“I have been doing this since I was 14,” McIntosh said. “Every single time I get to race on the world stage, I learned more and more about handling (it) mentally and physically and emotionally. I try not to get too high or too low depending on my race results.”
It’s her second medal of these Games so far, following a silver in the 400-meter freestyle which also saw Australian Ariarne Titmus take gold and American Katie Ledecky take bronze. That final, hyped as one of the most-anticipated races of the entire Games, featured three swimmers who had previously owned the world record in the event.
McIntosh has said she grew up idolizing Ledecky and Michael Phelps. She had a poster of Ledecky on her wall growing up and her cat was named “Mikey” after Phelps. And here she is, shining on the Olympic stage just like them.
“She’s an inspiration to everyone,” said teammate Kylie Masse, who swam in the women’s 100-meter backstroke semifinals Monday night. “For so many young swimmers in Canada to be able to see her and see her success here on the international stage, (they’ll know) that they can dream big and continue to do whatever they put their mind to.”
McIntosh’s gold is the second for Team Canada at the Olympics after Christa Deguchi won gold earlier Monday in women’s under-57 kilogram judo.
Later this week, McIntosh will swim — and be a top contender — in both the 200 IM and the 200 fly.
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(Photo: Manan Vatsyayan / AFP via Getty Images)
