PARIS – It was another historic night for Summer McIntosh — and Canada. The 17-year-old won the 200-metre individual medley, which makes her the first Canadian to win three golds at a single Olympics. Even more impressive: She’s done it all in individual events. On top of this, she set her second Olympic record with a winning time of two minutes, 6.56 seconds.
It was another outstanding effort for McIntosh: She was second after 50 metres but kicked it into high gear in the backstroke and was easily in front at the halfway point. She slipped to second after the third leg and then turned it on for a torrid freestyle to secure the gold.
The race came just minutes after a pair of her male teammates Josh Liendo (silver) and Ilya Kharun (bronze) stood on the podium following their stirring efforts in the 100-metre butterfly. It was the first time two Canadians stood on the podium of an in individual race at the Olympics since 1976.
With three golds and a silver, she is now the most decorated single Games athlete the country has ever produced. Her four medals are the second most, trailing only speed skating grate Cindy Klassen, who collected a total of five in Turin 2006.
It’s not just the number of medals that is impressive, however, it’s the way she’s doing it. Of the many ways that American legend Michael Phelps was dominant, consider that he never lost a medley race. Of his 23 Olympic gold, six came in either the 200 or 400-metre versions of the four-stroke test of a champion.
McIntosh had dominated in winning the 400 medley earlier in the week and was competing in the 200 version of the event for the first time at a major international competition.
McIntosh is on her way to potentially surpassing teammate Penny Oleksiak’s Canadian Olympic record of seven medals, only one of which was gold.