Summer McIntosh of Canada swept three individual gold medals at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, setting Olympic records in two of her three victories. Her dominance across the medley and butterfly events turned a single Olympic cycle into a defining moment for Canadian swimming.
A body-length lead from the first wall
The opening night of her gold rush came in the 400m individual medley on 29 July. McIntosh seized control from the butterfly leg, carving a 1.22-second margin by the backstroke turn and stretching it to a three-body-length gap through the breaststroke. She touched in 4:27.71, finishing 5.69 seconds clear of the United States’ Katie Grimes, while Emma Weyant took bronze.
It was Canada’s first Olympic medal in the women’s 400m IM since Cheryl Gibson and Becky Smith claimed silver and bronze at Montreal 1976. McIntosh, a 17-year-old Toronto native, had arrived as the world-record holder and became the first Canadian woman to win gold in the gruelling four-stroke race.
A late surge, then a record falls
On 1 August, the 200m butterfly final set McIntosh against defending champion Zhang Yufei of China. She trailed off the dive but drew level through the first half before making a decisive move on the third lap. She never looked back, beating USA’s Regan Smith by 0.81 seconds in a time of 2:03.03 — an Olympic record, shaving 0.83 seconds off Zhang’s Tokyo mark, and the second-fastest swim in history.
The butterfly gold was Canada’s first-ever Olympic medal in the women’s event. It also made McIntosh only the third Canadian swimmer to win two individual golds at one Games, and the first since Alex Baumann at Los Angeles 1984.
Completing the set in the 200m medley
Barely an hour after her butterfly victory, McIntosh had already turned her attention forward. “I got 2IM tomorrow, so I really need to focus on that right now,” she said. On 3 August, she delivered the third gold, winning the 200m individual medley in 2:06.56, another Olympic record, ahead of Kate Douglass and Kaylee McKeown.
The three golds joined a silver in the 400m freestyle from the opening night, giving McIntosh four medals from one Olympic campaign. The achievements extended a career already studded with world titles in the 200m butterfly and medley events, won at ages 15 and 16.
After the 400m IM, she told reporters, “It’s always just about having fun, as well as pushing my body to its limits.” In Paris, those limits moved the record books.