Summer McIntosh is becoming quite familiar with the Olympic podium.
The Canadian swimmer captured her second Paris 2024 title in a row when she won the women’s 200-metre butterfly on Thursday in an Olympic-record time of two minutes, 3.03 seconds.
McIntosh finished 0.81 seconds ahead runner-up Regan Smith of the U.S. Yufei Chang of China won bronze.
“Pretty unreal,” McIntosh told CBC Olympics after the race. “The 200 fly I would say is one of my favourite races and it has been since I was a little kid. That last 50, I was just trying to feed off the crowd as much as possible. I knew it was going to be a fight to the wall.”
It was the third medal of the Games for the 17-year-old Toronto native, who took bronze in the 400-metre freestyle on opening night before grabbing gold in the 400-metre individual medley.
The latest gold gives Canada eight medals in Paris (three gold, two silver and three bronze).
McIntosh becomes the first Canadian to win two individual gold medals in a single Olympics since Alex Baumann in 1984. She is just the fourth Canadian overall to win two golds at a single Summer Olympics.
McIntosh was favoured in the 200-m butterfly after winning the event at her past two world championships. It also was the event her mom, Jill, competed in at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.
Both of McIntosh’s parents and her sister were in attendance Thursday.
“The fact my mom did this event at the Olympics all the way back in 1984 and for me to be doing it now, I know she’s unbelievably proud of me,” she said.
The Canadian is expected to return to the pool later Thursday for the 4×200-metre freestyle relay final.
