Canadians swim to three more medals on Day 8 of Paris 2024
It was another historic night in the pool for Team Canada at Paris 2024.
Summer McIntosh won gold in the women’s 200m individual medley while Josh Liendo and Ilya Kharun captured silver and bronze medals, respectively, in the men’s 100m butterfly, pushing Canada’s swimming medal total to eight at these Olympic Games. That is the country’s best total since the 10 swimming medals won at Los Angeles 1984 and ties the eight won at Montreal 1976.
McIntosh becomes the first Canadian athlete to win three gold medals in one Olympic Games and matches Penny Oleksiak for the most medals won by a Canadian athlete at one summer Games. The 17-year-old had already won gold in the 400m IM and 200m butterfly along with a silver in the 400m freestyle.
READ: McIntosh wins fourth medal, taking gold in 200 IM
McIntosh’s 400m IM gold came in dominant fashion – but Saturday’s race was much closer. McIntosh led after the first 100m but fell into second early in the final 50m, battling Americans Kate Douglass and Alex Walsh for first. McIntosh turned it on down the stretch to move into first and capture another gold. Her time of 2:06.56 set a new Olympic record.
Canadian Sydney Pickrem joined McIntosh in the final and placed sixth with a time of 2:09.74.
Liendo and Kharun, meanwhile, become the first Canadian men to win a medal in the men’s 100m butterfly since Bruce Robertson won silver at Munich 1972. It’s also Canada’s first double podium at an Olympic Summer Games since Montreal 1976.
It’s the first Olympic medal for Liendo, who was just 0.02 seconds shy of reaching the podium in the men’s 50m freestyle. He nearly reached the top of the podium on Saturday, battling it out with Kristóf Milák of Hungary in the final 50m. The two were even entering the final metres with Milák finishing with a time of 49.99, just 0.09 seconds ahead of Liendo.
Kharun, meanwhile, was swimming in lane seven and was in seventh place after 50m. But the Canadian had an impressive final lap, finishing with a time of 50.45 – 0.1 seconds ahead of fourth place finisher Noè Ponti of Switzerland – to claim the bronze. It’s Kharun’s second butterfly bronze in Paris having medalled in the 200m as well.
Taylor Ruck was also in action on Saturday night, swimming in the semifinals of the women’s 50m freestyle. The three-time Olympian finished sixth in her heat and 13th overall with a time of 24.72, missing out on a spot in the final.
Ruck swam in the 10th and final heat in the morning qualifiers where her time of 24.57 placed her in a tie for eighth overall.
READ: Liendo and Kharun double podium in men’s 100m butterfly
One other group of Canadians swam in a final on Saturday with Liendo, Kylie Masse, Finlay Knox and Maggie Mac Neil competing in the mixed 4 x 100m medley relay final. Canada was behind early but got back into the medal conversation when Liendo swam a strong third leg. But the Canadians couldn’t move beyond fifth place, finishing off the podium with a time of 3:41.41.
Mac Neil, Ruck, Blake Tierney and Apollo Hess competed in the mixed relay heats on Friday, finishing with a time of 3:43.87 to qualify for the final.
Sunday will be the final day of competition inside Paris La Défense Arena – and two of the four races will feature Canadian relay teams looking to medal.
Canada’s 4 x 100m medley relay teams will both swim for medals after earning spots in Saturday morning’s qualifiers.
On the women’s side, Ingrid Wilm, Sophie Angus, Mary-Sophie Harvey and Penny Oleksiak had a time of 3:56.10 to win their heat and secure a spot in the final. Only Australia had posted a better team in qualifying.
Canada battled the United States and Japan throughout the heat but strong legs by Angus in the breaststroke and Oleksiak in the freestyle were the difference.
On the men’s side, Kharun, Tierney, Knox and Javier Acevedo finished fourth in their heat and seventh overall. The Canadians were as far back as seventh in their heat but a strong second half to the race by Kharun and Acevedo gave the team a time of 3:32.33, good enough to qualify for the final.
The men’s final will take place Sunday at 1:10 p.m. ET and will be followed by the women’s at 1:32 p.m. ET – which will be the final event on the swimming pool calendar at Paris 2024.
