Paris 2024 swimming: All results, as world record holder Summer McIntosh wins first Olympic gold in 400m individual medley

By Sam Peene

3 min|

Picture by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

In the ultimate Olympic face-off between Team USA’s Katie Grimes and Canada’s Summer McIntosh, it was the Canadian that took the Paris 2024 title in the women’s 400m individual medley, and it was by a landslide.

Both swimmers took an early and comfortable lead, setting themselves an entire body length away from the rest of the pack by the second 50m of the race.

McIntosh then took off to finish with a time of 4:27.71 - 5.69 seconds ahead of Grimes, who finished in 4:33.40 to take the silver on 29 July.

“I was very happy to get the job done, to stand on top of the podium and get the gold medal. It’s always just about having fun, as well as pushing my body to its limits,” McIntosh said following the race.

“I’m just trying to make team Canada proud and set the tone.”

As the world record holder in the event, she took the Olympic gold and stood on top of the podium in Paris for the very first time, after on day one, she took a silver medal in the 400m freestyle ahead of seven-time Olympic champion Katie Ledecky and only behind Australian powerhouse Ariarne Titmus.

The gold medal pays homage to the success she saw at Tokyo 2020, where although she did not land on the podium, she finished in fourth place in the 100m freestyle at just 14 years old, behind Ledecky and Titmus.

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Grimes will also find herself on the Olympic podium for the very time at just 18 years old. It will be a familiar spot for Grimes, who took silver to McIntosh in the event at the 2022 and 2023 World Championships.

USA’s Emma Weyant took third place with a time of 3:34.93. Her hand hit the wall just 1.53 seconds behind Grimes after she began gaining momentum to close the gap between her and her American teammate.

“I’m just so happy to be back on the podium. It has been a long three years for me. Just getting back out there with my teammates means the world to me. This is kind of a redemption year. That has been my mindset the whole year,” Weyant said, before praising McIntosh.

“She set an impressive standard for sure. She is training with my old club team so she is in good hands. She continues to do impressive things.”

McIntosh will compete in two more individual events, including the 200m butterfly and 200m IM, as well as likely in some relays.

“I try to take every event individually, one by one. Getting on the podium was a great way to start. I try not to get too high or too low,” she said.