By: Rachel Chen

On July 29th, 2024, a 17-year-old Canadian swimmer won an Olympic gold medal for the first time in the women’s 400-meter individual race.

Summer McIntosh got gold with a time of 4:27.71. Silver was American Katie Grimes with a time of 4:33.40, and bronze was American Emma Weyant with a time of 4:34.93.

Along with winning gold, McIntosh is also a world record-holder and a two-time world champion in the women’s 400-meter individual race. Many people supported McIntosh going into the Olympics as well.

McIntosh was in the lead by an impressive amount as well during the race. McIntosh says that she first realized how big her lead was at the start of the breaststroke leg. At that point, she knew she was going to win gold, so she enjoyed the final freestyle leg.

After McIntosh won gold, she stayed calm as always. She says, “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.”

So far, McIntosh has won two medals, gold in the 400-meter individual race, and silver in the 400-meter freestyle. During the latter race, American Katie Ledecky got bronze and Australian Ariarne Titmus got gold. Many people consider that race to be one of the most anticipated races in the whole Olympics.

Audiences knew these three swimmers would be the biggest competitors against each other. All three swimmers in the event, including McIntosh, have held world records.

McIntosh claims that Katie Ledecky and Michael Phelps were her idols as a kid. But now, McIntosh is on the Olympic stage as well. McIntosh’s teammate, Kylie Masse, says, “She’s an inspiration to everyone.”

McIntosh was the second athlete in the Paris Olympics who won gold for her country, Canada. She is not done competing though. She still has the 200-meter individual event and the 200-meter fly left to do.