Summer McIntosh of Team Canada is seen with her Gold medal after victory in the Women's 200m Butterfly final© Ian MacNicol

Canadian teen Summer McIntosh, 17, breaks astonishing Olympic record by almost full second

Summer has been an Olympics star

Rebecca Lewis - Los Angeles
Los Angeles correspondentLos Angeles
August 1, 2024

Canadian teen Summer McIntosh has broken an Olympic Record (OR), swimming the 200 meter butterfly in 2:03.03. 

The 17-year-old is now also the first Canadian woman to win two gold medals in one edition of the Olympic Summer Games; Summer – the youngest member of the Canadian delegation – also won gold in the 400m individual medley, and took home a silver in the 400m freestyle.

© Adam Pretty

Gold Medalist Summer McIntosh of Team Canada (C), Silver Medalist Regan Smith of Team United States (L) and Bronze Medalist Zhang Yufei of Team People's Republic of China (R)

Summer's record is a family affair as well, as her mom Jill Horstead is also an Olympic swimmer having competed in the 1984 Summer Olympics in the same event. 

She came ninth, coming in first in the B Final and clocking a time of 2:13.49. 

The previous OR was set in 2020 at 2:03:86, held by Zhang Yufei of China, who came in third in 2024. 

Summer was also the leadoff swimmer for the 4x200m freestyle relay; the team placed fourth. 

She holds the world record for the 400m individual medley, clocking in at 4:24:38 in May 2024. 

© FRANCOIS-XAVIER MARIT

An overview shows Canada's Summer Mcintosh (C), US' Regan Smith (L) and China's Zhang Yufei (R) competing the final of the women's 200m butterfly swimming event

Canada has also won Gold in the Women’s 57kg Judo event with Christa Deguchi, and a silver with the rugby women's sevens team. Eleanor Harvey won bronze for Fencing – women's Individual Foil, as did Rylan Wiens and Nathan Zsombor-Murray for the men's 10m Synchro Diving, and Ilya Kharun for the men's 200m Butterfly swim. 

"I have been dreaming of this moment since receiving my first swim lesson badge at 3 years old," Summer told fans two days ago, as she won her first gold.

"It is impossible to express how grateful I am to have always been surrounded by the best, striving towards a common goal. I can truly feel the love and support of my family, friends, teammates, coaches and my country! It is an incredible honour to wear the Maple Leaf. Team Canada is just getting started!!!" 

She also shared her support for teammate Illya, reposting Team Canada's graphic and adding heart emojis as he won his bronze medal.

Sign up to HELLO! Daily for all the latest and best celebrity coverage

Email Address

By entering your details, you are agreeing to HELLO! Magazine User Data Protection Policy. You can unsubscribe at any time. For more information, please click here.

More Celebrity News

See more