In Nanterre, France, Summer McIntosh, a rising star from Canada, achieved her first gold medal at the Paris Olympics by triumphing in the 400-meter individual medley. McIntosh, only 17 years old, had previously secured a silver medal in the 400 freestyle on the opening night of swimming, coming second to Ariarne Titmus and surpassing Katie Ledecky.
During the challenging 400-meter individual medley race, McIntosh led the pack in the butterfly and backstroke segments before being closely trailed by American Katie Grimes. Although McIntosh was initially on pace to break her own world record set in May, she finished in 4 minutes, 27.71 seconds, more than three seconds slower than her previous time but still enough to clinch the Olympic gold.
McIntosh’s victory was followed by another teenage triumph as 19-year-old Romanian swimmer David Popovici claimed a thrilling win in the men’s 200 freestyle event. Popovici managed to touch the wall first in 1:44.72, just edging out Britain’s Matthew Richards by two-hundredths of a second, while American Luke Hobson settled for the bronze, 0.07 seconds behind Richards.
The intense competition saw Britain’s Duncan Scott, the silver medalist from the Tokyo Olympics, narrowly miss the podium with a time of 1:44.87, as the top four swimmers finished within a mere 0.15 seconds of each other.
