NANTERRE, France — Summer’s Games roll on, as Canadian teenage phenom Summer McIntosh continues to make a big splash at the Paris Olympics.
She captured her second gold medal of the meet in the women’s 200-meter butterfly Thursday night, beating out a field that included the reigning Olympic champion in the event. McIntosh’s winning time of 2:03.03 set an Olympic record ahead of Regan Smith’s 2:03.84, which earned Smith silver. China’s Zhang Yufei earned bronze.
Smith lowered her own American record by .03 in the final, but it wasn’t enough to nab McIntosh.
17-year-old Summer McIntosh gets her SECOND GOLD MEDAL of the #ParisOlympics in the 200m fly! 🤯
Regan Smith finishes close behind to earn silver. 🥈 | 📺 NBC and Peacock pic.twitter.com/JgRhD0xDfQ
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) August 1, 2024
“I’m really happy with the time,” McIntosh said about setting an Olympic record. “I need to rewatch it, I think my finish was a little bit weird, but I can never be upset with a best time, especially by that margin.”
McIntosh, 17, is excelling on the world stage to the surprise of no one who knows her. She’s won three Olympic medals so far this meet — gold in the 200 fly and the 400-meter individual medley, plus silver in the 400 free — and still has an event to go. She’ll be a top contender alongside American Kate Douglass in the women’s 200 IM.
McIntosh is a two-time world champion in the 200 fly and was the top qualifier entering Thursday night’s final. The 200 fly was not only McIntosh’s favorite race growing up but it was also the event her mom, Jill, competed in at the Los Angeles 1984 Games.
“To share that moment with her is pretty cool,” McIntosh said. “I know she is so proud of me along with the rest of my family. I can’t thank them enough.”
Great expectations do not seem to rattle the teen one bit. She said after winning her first Olympic gold medal in the 400 IM that she’s been at major international swim meets for years and learned a lot competing at the Tokyo Games as the youngest member of the Canadian delegation.
“I have been doing this since I was 14,” McIntosh said. “Every single time I get to race on the world stage, I learn 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.”
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(Photo: Ian MacNicol / Getty Images)
