{"id":592956,"date":"2024-07-29T11:47:59","date_gmt":"2024-07-29T18:47:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=592956"},"modified":"2024-07-30T04:24:07","modified_gmt":"2024-07-30T11:24:07","slug":"paris-olympics-day-3-finals-summer-mcintosh-dominates-400-im-final-for-first-olympic-gold-americans-grimes-weyant-2-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/paris-olympics-day-3-finals-summer-mcintosh-dominates-400-im-final-for-first-olympic-gold-americans-grimes-weyant-2-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Paris Olympics, Day 3 Finals: Summer McIntosh Dominates 400 IM Final For ‘Surreal’ First Olympic Gold; Americans Grimes, Weyant 2-3"},"content":{"rendered":"

Paris Olympics, Day 3 Finals: Summer McIntosh Dominates 400 IM Final For First Olympic Gold; Americans Grimes, Weyant 2-3<\/strong><\/p>\n

At her first Olympics,\u00a0Summer McIntosh<\/strong> was a 14-year-old prodigy who came very close to winning a pair of medals, falling from third to fourth in the final lengths of the 400 free final. One year later, her first world title came in the 200 butterfly as she pulled away from American veteran\u00a0Hali Flickinger<\/strong> in her international debut in the event.<\/p>\n

But the 400 individual medley is the event McIntosh was built to swim. The combination of speed and endurance that make a mid-distance specialist? Check. Near-perfect technique? Yup. Elite speed in every stroke? Not quite, with her breaststroke still a work-in-progress, but she is one of the world’s best in freestyle and butterfly and a potentially world-class backstroker if only she could fit the stroke into her schedule. The intangibles and flair for coming through at critical junctures? Absolutely.<\/p>\n

The full spectrum of McIntosh’s mastery was unveiled in front of a global audience Monday evening in Paris, as the 17-year-old Canadian dominated the 400 IM Olympic final for her first Olympic gold medal.<\/p>\n

McIntosh never trailed in the final, and although she got a significant push from American\u00a0Katie Grimes<\/strong> for the first half of the race, she showcased a superior breaststroke to open up a lead of almost five seconds entering freestyle. For the first portion of the event, it appeared McIntosh might take down her own world record as she swam more than a half-second quicker than pace through the halfway point. That did not materialize, but McIntosh knew she had a gold medal locked up well before she touched.<\/p>\n

“I couldn\u2019t really see anything until the breaststroke second 50, and I kind of looked around to make sure I was in a comfortable lead,” she said. “Definitely knew that I had the gold medal going into the last 100 meters.”<\/p>\n

In the end, McIntosh touched in 4:27.71 to secure gold, the seventh-fastest mark in history and a time that only she and Hungarian star\u00a0Katinka Hosszu<\/strong>, the 2016 Olympic champion in the event, have ever surpassed. Even as the clear favorite, McIntosh’s reaction was not relief but unadulterated joy.<\/p>\n

“Definitely pretty surreal. I was very happy to get the job done tonight because that was a goal of mine to stand on top of the podium and win a gold medal. To accomplish that, I was very happy to get that,” McIntosh said. “Absolutely not. It\u2019s always just about having fun along with pushing my body to its limits. There\u2019s definitely a lot of anticipation going into the race, but I wouldn\u2019t say there are necessarily nerves. There\u2019s no relief. I\u2019m really just trying to soak up every moment I have at the Games.”<\/p>\n