Summer McIntosh has won Canada’s first medal of the Olympic Games in Paris with a silver in swimming’s 400-metre freestyle.
Australia’s Ariarne Titmus defended her Olympic crown in a time of three minutes 3:57.49 seconds ahead of McIntosh in 3:58.37 and bronze medallist Katie Ledecky of the United States in 4:00.86.
McIntosh nearly won the first Olympic medal of her career in the 400 free as a 14-year-old three years ago in Tokyo, but placed fourth.
The Toronto swimmer is the world-record holder in the women’s 400 individual medley. McIntosh swims that event Monday.
Toronto teen Summer McIntosh won her first-career Olympic medal, swimming to silver in the women’s 400m freestyle final. Australia’s Ariarne Titmus won gold, while American Katie Ledecky claimed bronze.
The race had been compared to the epic men’s 200 freestyle “Race of the Century” showdown between American Michael Phelps, Australian Ian Thorpe and Dutch giant Pieter van den Hoogenband in 2004.
“I’m just happy to get the result for myself and I feel so honored to be a part of the race and be alongside legends like Katie,” said Titmus.
All three medallists were past or present world record holders.
“We knew it was going to be a great race going in, so many great competitors in the field” said Ledecky. “I knew it’d be tough and everyone in that field put up a great race. Ariarne [Titmus] and Summer [McIntosh] 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.”
Also, defending women’s 100-metre butterfly champion Maggie Mac Neil of London, Ont., qualified for the final of that event.
She tied for the fourth-fasted time in the semifinals.
Canadian women’s relay team finishes 4th
The Canadian women’s 4×100 relay squad of Summer McIntosh, Taylor Ruck, Maggie Mac Neil and Penny Oleksiak finished fourth in the event’s final, coming in 2.69 seconds after third-placed China.
Australia’s team of Mollie O’Callaghan, Shayna Jack, Emma McKeon and Meg Harris took gold with an Olympic record time of three minutes 28.92 seconds, securing their country a fourth consecutive Olympic gold medal in the event.
The U.S. came in second, just 1.28 seconds behind the Australian team, which was good enough for an Americas record.
In the men’s 4x100m relay, Canada’s team of Finlay Knox, Yuri Kisil, Javier Acevedo and Josh Liendo finished in sixth place.
The U.S. took gold (3:09.28), beating Australia (3:10.35) and Italy (3:10.70).