Summer McIntosh to swim for 1st Olympic medal in women’s 400m freestyle

Summer McIntosh will have another chance to earn her first Olympic swimming medal on Saturday afternoon.

The Canadian teen sensation qualified fourth for the women’s 400-metre freestyle final at 2:52 p.m. ET, posting a time of four minutes 2.65 seconds in her heat at La Defense Arena in Paris.

McIntosh, 17, was fourth (4:02.42) in the race in her 2021 Olympic debut in Tokyo.

The Toronto athlete captured silver medals in the 400 free at the 2022 Commonwealth Games and 2023 world championships.

McIntosh also has a spot in the 200 free, 400 individual medley — in which she holds the world record — 200 butterfly and 200 medley in Paris, and could be part of as many as four relay events.

And there is an opportunity for her to surpass Penny Oleksiak’s four-medal haul from 2016 in Rio, the Canadian record for a single Summer Games.

WATCH | McIntosh speaks with CBC Sports’ Devin Heroux before Paris Olympics:

In Saturday’s heat, McIntosh finished 1-10th of a second behind winner Erika Fairweather of New Zealand.

American Katie Ledecky (4:02.19) took the third and final heat over Australian rival and world record holder Ariarne Titmus (4:02.46).

Side-by-side showdown

Titmus, known as “The Terminator,” got off to a fast start but couldn’t hold off the hard-charging Ledecky on the final lap. Titmus posted the second-fastest time in the preliminaries, setting up a side-by-side showdown with Ledecky in the final.

Ledecky captured 2016 Olympic gold, followed by Titmus five years later.

Ledecky is looking to add to her haul of six individual gold medals, already the most by any female swimmer in Olympic history. She’s a heavy favourite in both the 800 and 1,500 freestyle.

Tokyo bronze medallist Li Bingjie and Chinese teammate Liu Yaxin finished ninth and 10th, respectively, and failed to advance to Saturday’s final.

Their team has been under intense scrutiny after reports that nearly two dozen swimmers tested positive for a banned substance before the 2021 Olympics but were not sanctioned.

Aiming for butterfly gold repeat

Maggie Mac Neil of London, Ont., will continue her quest at making Olympic history on Saturday afternoon.

She qualified seventh for the women’s 100 butterfly semifinals at 2:30 p.m., finishing second in her heat in 57 flat, 28-100ths behind American Torri Huske.

Mac Neil will try to become the first repeat champion in the event after setting a 55.59 personal best to win the 2021 Olympic final in Tokyo.

The 24-year-old is also eyeing the 55.18 world record, set by Gretchen Walsh of the United States on June 14 in Indianapolis.

Sweden’s Sarah Sjoestroem boasts the Olympic mark of 55.48 from 2016 in Rio.

Mac Neil, a former Louisiana State University athlete, continued to live and train in Baton Rouge for a portion of her Olympic preparation while completing her master of science in sports management.

Before COVID-19 hit in early 2020, Mac Neil had planned to leave competitive swimming after the Tokyo Olympics, which was rescheduled to 2021, but felt she missed swimming opportunities during the global pandemic and opted to extend her career.

“I know I’m not going another quad [four-year Olympic cycle], I’ve never wanted to [compete] to 2028,” she told CBC Sports in February. “I want to go to law school in the next couple of years.”

Rebecca Smith of Red Deer, Alta., was last in her eight-woman heat in 58.85 on Saturday and did not advance.

Other Canadian results:

• Men’s 4×100 relay team of Finlay Knox, Yuri Kisil, Javier Acevedo and Josh Liendo qualified fifth (3:12.77) for Saturday final at 3:44 p.m. China posted the best time at 3:11.62.
• Women’s 100 relay squad (Penny Oleksiak, Mary-Sophie Harvey, Brooklyn Douthwright, Taylor Ruck) was sixth of eight teams advancing to 3:34 p.m. final with 3:35.29 clocking. Australia qualified first in 3:31.57. Oleksiak had the Canadians sitting second following her opening leg.

The swimming competition runs through Aug. 4.