McIntosh wins second medal of Paris 2024; two Canadians to swim in women’s 100m backstroke final

A dominating performance from Summer McIntosh highlighted Day 3 for Team Canada’s swimmers at Paris 2024.

McIntosh won her second medal of the Games by capturing gold in the women’s 400m individual medley, posting a time of 4:27.71. The 17-year-old, who is the world record holder and a two-time world champion in the event, showed why she’s the best in the world, finishing 5.69 seconds ahead of second-place finisher Katie Grimes of the United States.

Swimming in what she calls her favourite event, McIntosh led from start to finish and started to pull away from Grimes in the second half of the race. She clearly preserved enough energy from her morning heat where she finished with a time of 4:37.35.

READ: Summer McIntosh wins 400m IM gold at Paris 2024

On Day 1 in Paris, McIntosh won her first Olympic medal, taking silver in the 400m freestyle. She’ll compete in two more individual events, the 200m butterfly and 200m individual medley, and potentially a couple more relays before heading home.

18-year-old Ella Jansen, competing in her first Olympic Games, just missed qualifying for the 400m IM final, finishing 11th in the morning heats with a time of 4:42.06. The top eight advanced to the final.

“Honestly, I’m really proud of myself for that one,” Jansen told CBC after the race. “I think the past few world championships, I’ve just been so nervous that I don’t enjoy the experience. Today I really just went out there and did my best to have fun. I think I did it today.”

Mary-Sophie Harvey swam the women’s 200m freestyle final on Monday evening, finishing fourth with a personal best time of 1:55.29. Harvey fell back in the first 100m but made a strong push in the final two laps to secure the fourth position. Australia’s Mollie O’Callaghan won gold with an Olympic record time of 1:53.27.

This was Harvey’s first individual event at an Olympic Games. The 24-year-old swam at Tokyo 2020 but only in the women’s 4 x 200m freestyle relay.

Kylie Masse and Ingrid Wilm were also in action on Monday evening, securing spots in the final of the women’s 100m backstroke. Masse, who has an Olympic bronze and silver in the event from the last two Games, touched the wall with a time of 58.82 in her semifinal heat, which was the fifth fastest overall. Wilm, meanwhile, finished sixth with a time of 59.10. She won bronze in the event at the 2024 World Aquatics Championships.

The women’s 100m backstroke final will take place Tuesday at 2:56 p.m. EST. The two Canadians will be in a stacked field that features world record holder Regan Smith of the United States and Olympic record holder Kaylee McKeown of Australia.

Masse and Wilm both advanced to the semifinals after racing in the morning heats. Both swam in the fifth and final heat with Masse placing fourth with a time of 59.06 while Wilm finished 12th with a time of 1:00.06.

Swimming pool events at Paris 2024 continue daily until August 4 (Day 9).