The crowd at La Défense Arena had applauded her more when Katie Grimes, her main rival, came on. This was probably because there were many more Americans than Canadians among the thousands of spectators. They made her feel that way with their “USA, USA!” But she didn’t care. She had no stage fright. At 17, Summer McIntosh lived up to expectations as only the greatest swimmers can do, and swept aside her opponents to win her first Olympic gold.
With passion and a great desire to enjoy it, but without the excitement of the weekend evenings, with the so-called race of the century on Saturday – although two of its medallists repeated this Monday – and with the coronation of the local idol Léon Marchand on Sunday, and even with some space in the imposing stands of La Défense Arena, with capacity for 17,000 spectators for swimming at these Games. That was how the final of the 400-metre medley began, in which the Canadian tried to take another step after the silver in the 400 freestyle that had been the first medal of her career. It was she, and only she, who lit the fuse of ecstasy in Nanterre.
She only needed one first length of the butterfly, 50 metres, to gain more than half a second on Grimes (27.36 to 28.04), the only one who seemed to be following her, even if it was to grab her foot so she couldn’t get away. But after the first medley, the gap between the two was already 1.35 seconds. And going up. The backstroke was a little tighter, but the margin was widening. And after the breaststroke, the Canadian had five seconds ahead of the mortals who tried to chase her. The crawl was still missing, which she is also particularly good at (actually, like everyone else). And there she finished the job with 4:27.71, 5.69 ahead of Grimes and 7.22 ahead of the also American Emma Weyant. After the world title in Fukuoka 2023, the Olympic title is now also hers.
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David Popovici, eufórico.ANNA SZILAGYIEFE
Another young star was also looking for him in the second final of the night. About to turn 20 in September, and after dazzling at the Budapest 2022 World Championships and disappearing in a complicated 2023, as he recently reported in AS, David Popovici managed to win his first medal at the Games in style: taking gold. It was in the 200-meter freestyle, where he had been fourth in Tokyo 2020, and with a worse time than the one he had in the semifinals (1:44.72) but enough to beat Briton Matthew Richards (who succeeds his compatriot Duncan Scott on the second step of the podium, now fourth in Paris) by two hundredths of a second and American Luke Hobson by seven.
The Romanian achieved this in a spectacular, formidable, meteoric final stretch, after having been trailing the 150 metres before, third even at the halfway point of the race that Lukas Maertens -gold medallist in the 400m freestyle on Saturday- dominated from start to practically the end, when he collapsed and fell to fifth position.
O’Callaghan’s full rematch with Titmus
And from swimmers who climb to the Olympic throne for the first time to one who falls when she could become the undisputed queen of Paris 2024. After defeating McIntosh herself and Katie Ledecky herself on Saturday in the 400 freestyle final, this time in the 2.8 metres Ariarne Titmus could not achieve a double, nor repeat the gold she won in Tokyo in this distance. And it was a full-blown revenge for her compatriot, teammate and friend Mollie O’Callaghan.
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O’Callaghan and Titmus hug.MANAN VATSYAYANAAFP
Both had just broken the world record in the same race on June 12 at the Australian Trials, but Titmus was the one who did it with the best time, so she was the one who got away with it. But this time in Paris O’Callaghan (1:53.27) snatched the gold at the Games from her, and not only that, but also made the Olympic record her own. Third place went to Hong Kong’s Siobhan Haughey, who had won silver three years ago.
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In the previous final, Tatjana Smith (1:05.28) had won gold in the 100 breaststroke, ahead of Tang Qianting and Mona McSharry. The Italian Benedetta Pilato, who was disqualified in Tokyo 2020, was left off the podium in fifth place this time. Perhaps worse was Lilly King, who was fourth, one step away from a new medal.
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