PARIS – It was business as usual for emerging Canadian Olympic star Summer McIntosh on Wednesday morning as the Toronto teenager is now zooming in on her next medal quest.
Or was it?
McIntosh was third in her preliminary heat for the 200-metre butterfly, which she hopes will yield a third medal to go along with gold in the 400-metre medley and silver in the 400 freestyle. While that time was easily fast enough to advance to Wednesday’s semi-final, it was the sixth-fastest among the three heats.
That said, McIntosh has repeatedly shown her savvy ability to take care of business in the morning and crank it up and race faster at night. After Wednesday’s race, the 17-year-old acknowledged that preliminary races can provide their own challenges, but added that she’s ready for Round 2 to set up another medal chance.
“Any Games are unpredictable when it comes to swimming,” McIntosh said after her latest swim. “I get more nervous for these races than any other but I’ve actually figured out how to channel that and turn it into a positive thing rather than a negative thing. Anything can happen in a final.”
McIntosh is seen as a gold medal threat in the 200 fly after winning the title in each of the past two world championships. She’ll also be among the top contenders for gold in the 200 metre medley later in the week.
Overall, it seems as though she’s getting into the flow of the Olympics taking advantage of an off day from competing on Tuesday to let the accomplishments thus far sink in.
“I took some time to appreciate the moment,” McIntosh said. “I had a day off and I was able to reach out to a bunch of my friends back home. But now all my focus is on the 200m butterfly”
Meanwhile, the Wednesday night session brings the first opportunity for the Canadian men to join the pool party that their women counterparts have been enjoying with 14 (and counting) medals over the past three games. The man in question is 19-year-old Ilya Kharun who has an opportunity at reaching the podium in the 200-metre butterfly.
Kharun, who grew up in Las Vegas but was born in Montreal, unleashed an impressive surge in Tuesday’s semi-final when he was fifth after 150 metres but rocketed home second in his race (1:54.01) and third fastest overall.
Kharun will face one of his former teammates at Arizona State, Leon Marchand, the Frenchman who is a massive fan favourite here, and dominated on the way to a gold medal in the 400-metre medley.