Summer McIntosh, of Canada, smiles as she receives her silver medal after the women's 400-meter freestyle final at the 2024 Summer Olympics.Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press
Summer McIntosh wasted no time putting her stamp on Paris, winning a silver medal – her first at the Olympics – in the 400-metre freestyle, kicking off what could be a string of podium appearances in the days ahead.
It was Canada’s first medal of the Paris Summer Games, in an event so laden with top international talent it was billed by observers as the Race of the Century in women’s swimming.
The 17-year-old from Toronto touched the wall in 3 minutes 58.37 seconds, putting her in second place behind Australia’s Ariarne Titmus.
Titmus, the defending gold medalist fromthe Tokyo Olympics, won in a time of 3:57.49. American Katie Ledecky, considered the best women’s swimmer in history, placed third in 4:00.86. And New Zealand’s Erika Fairweather finished fourth in 4:01.12.
“Going into tonight I really just wanted to put my best foot forward and race as hard as I could,” McIntosh said. “Overall I’m pretty happy with the result. I mean an Olympics is always pretty nerve-wracking and there’s a lot of anticipation going into each race.”
She dedicated the race to her parents, her sister, her coach and her teammates. Her mom swam for Canada at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, and McIntosh said her support, along with the rest of her family was key.
“My mom has such a huge impact on me and she’s made so many sacrifices herself, along with my dad, my sister, all of my family,” McIntosh said.
This race in particular was eagerly anticipated. The showdown was considered one for the ages because it included the last three world record holders in the event going up against each other, which doesn’t happen often.
Ledecky, 27, set the world record in 2014 and held it for nearly eight years, until Titmus, 23, surpassed it in 2022. McIntosh then beat that mark in early 2023, before Titmus took it back less than four months later.
“Any time I get to race either of those girls is an amazing opportunity and I learn so much. They definitely push me to be better and make me put my best foot forward,” McIntosh said.
Adding to the glamour and high-stakes mood inside the Paris La Défense Arena, the race included four of the only five women in history to go below four minutes in the 400 freestyle: Titmus, Ledecky, McIntosh and Fairweather.
The fifth, Italy’s Federica Pellegrini, retired three years ago, after the Tokyo Olympics.
Titmus said she was more relieved than anything after winning gold and hoped the highly touted event lived up to its advance billing.
“It’s fun racing the best in the world. It gets the best out of me; it gets the best out of them,” Titmus said. “I really hope all the hype lived up to the expectation. I really hope that I put on a good show tonight and everyone enjoyed it.”
Ledecky, a seven-time gold medalist, said she could tell it would difficult, given the level of talent on the blocks.
“I knew it’d be tough and everyone in that field put up a great race,” Ledecky said. “Ariarne, Summer swam really, really well. I haven’t looked at how the whole race broke down, I can only see it from my lane, but kudos on some great races.”
For McIntosh, the medal is an Olympic coronation of sorts. Though she competed in Tokyo in 2021 as a 14-year-old, McIntosh narrowly missed the podium there, placing fourth in the same event.
But McIntosh went into these Games a contender for the podium in four individual events and potentially a few relays as well, depending on how many team events she is tapped to swim for Canada.
McIntosh has a packed schedule in Paris. Among heats, semi-finals and finals, she will compete 10 times in nine days, plus relays.
McIntosh went into the 400-freestyle final ranked fourth after the semi-final Saturday morning.
The event isn’t considered her signature race, though. She holds the world record in the 400-metre individual medley, which is Monday.
The hype surrounding the women’s 400-metre freestyle was a nod to the original Race of the Century in swimming, a title given to the men’s 200-metre freestyle at the 2004 Athens Summer Games.
In that race, several swimming legends went to head-to-head, including Australia’s Ian (The Thorpedo) Thorpe and Grant Hackett, Dutch superstar Pieter van den Hoogenband, and a young Michael Phelps from the United States. Thorpe won that race, van den Hoogenband took silver, and Phelps claimed the bronze.
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