NANTERRE, France—Summer McIntosh of Canada stamped herself as one of the swimming stars of the Paris Olympics with her third individual gold medal Saturday night.
The 17-year-old chased down American Alex Walsh and held off another U.S. swimmer, Kate Douglass, to finish in an Olympic record of 2 minutes, 6.56 seconds.
Douglass grabbed the silver in the star-studded final at 2:06.92, but the Americans lost the bronze when Walsh, the silver medalist in this event at Tokyo who recorded a time of 2:07.06, was disqualified because she did not finish the backstroke segment on her back.
McKeown, who touched fourth, was bumped up to the bronze at 2:08.08.
It was a bitter blow for Walsh, whose younger sister, Gretchen, has won two silver medals in Paris.
McIntosh set several world records ahead of the Paris Olympics, and she backed up the enormous expectations by claiming a starring role at La Defense Arena along with Léon Marchand and Katie Ledecky.
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McIntosh also won gold medals in the 200 butterfly and 400 IM, plus a silver in the 400 freestyle. She fell just 0.88 seconds — the margin of her loss to Ariarne Titmus — shy of matching Marchand’s four individual golds.
Hungarian Claims Butterfly Gold
Kristóf Milák of Hungary won the men’s 100 butterfly, chasing down three swimmers on the return lap.
Milák was only fourth at the turn, but he rallied to touch in 49.90. Canada grabbed the silver and bronze, with Josh Liendo finishing in 49.99 and Ilya Kharun next at 50.45.
Milák had failed to defend his Olympic title in the 200 butterfly, settling for a silver behind French star Marchand.
Milák claimed silver in the 100 fly three years ago, but he didn’t have to worry about the guy who beat him in that race. American Caeleb Dressel stunningly failed to qualify for the final, posting only the 13th-fastest time in the semifinals Friday.
Kharun added another bronze to the one he garnered in the 200 butterfly.
Ledecky goes for four in a row
The next-to-last night at the pool featured Ledecky going for her fourth straight gold medal in the women’s 800 freestyle.
Michael Phelps was the only other swimmer to win the same event at four straight games, taking gold in the 200 individual medley at Athens, Beijing, London and Rio de Janeiro
Ledecky claimed her first gold with a surprise victory in the 800 free as a 15-year-old at the 2012 London Games. She has dominated the grueling race ever since, also taking gold in Rio and Tokyo.
Final Race of the Night
The capper to the evening was the wild and woolly 4×100 mixed medley relay that featured teams with two men and two women.
Marchand was set to swim the breaststroke leg for France, giving him a shot at another medal to go with his four individual golds.
Britain won the event at the Tokyo Games, where the mixed event made its Olympic debut.
