By: Valentina Cheng

At only 17 years old, Summer McIntosh, swimming for Canada, won her first Olympic gold on Monday, July 29th. Her 400 meter individual medley at the Paris Olympics 2024 clocked a time of 4:27.71.

After her accomplishment, she was calm and composed, the Athletic reported, achieving the goal she set for herself. In her article, sports writer Nicole Auerbach said, “She’s swam this event so many times in major international meets that it didn’t faze her that she’d just swim (and won) the Olympics.”

This medal is her second medal in a row in the Olympics so far. She previously won a silver medal in the 400 meter freestyle race on July 27th, while Australian Ariane Titmus took home the gold and American Katie Ledecky won the bronze.

“Motivation isn’t something that you always have every single day, it comes in waves. But I always have that discipline, no matter how I feel when I wake up, I get to the pool and I try my hardest.” McIntosh said in an interview with The Athletic. Her hard work and self discipline has proved successful as she wins her first gold this year.

By 14, she had beaten Canadian legend Penny Oleksiak at the Olympic trials. A few months later, she competed at the Tokyo Olympics in 2020 as the youngest Canadian, impressively reaching 4th place, Sean McAlister wrote for the Olympics News. It was a giant accomplishment to beat Ledecky since she was McIntosh’s idol growing up. She even has a poster of Ledecky hanging on her wall. She also idolized Micheal Phelps, naming her cat “Mikey” after him.

This week, McIntosh is set to compete in both the 200 Im and 200 fly and is considered a strong contender for both events.

Canadian swimming phenom Summer McIntosh wins 400-meter individual medley for first Olympic gold
PARIS 2024 OLYMPICS: JUST SHY OF HER 18TH BIRTHDAY, SWIMMING SENSATION SUMMER MCINTOSH CONTINUES HER INCREDIBLE RISE