A 'speed demon' and 'goddess': Summer McIntosh celebrated by Canadians as sports experts break down her historic Olympics performance

Swimming fans up north can't stop raving about 17-year-old Summer McIntosh, who became the first Canadian woman to win the 400-metre individual medley at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.

McIntosh’s sheer strength sparked a conversation online, as her endurance, versatility and speed were tested across four different styles — butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle — in a remarkable display during the 400-metre race. She ended up winning in dominant fashion, beating Katie Grimes of the United States by two body lengths on her final lap.

McIntosh gaining extra speed over her peers in the freestyle leg had viewers awestruck, as some anointed her with honorary nicknames, from a "speed demon" to a "goddess." Her performance also put a spotlight on the physical, environmental and especially psychological aspects that go into making a champion like her deliver effortlessly on the big stage.

The Canadian swimming sensation was an Olympian at 14 and debuted at the delayed Tokyo Games, where she did not win a medal. However, she's come to Paris with a vengeance. That started with a silver medal in the women's 400-metre freestyle on Day 1, before securing her first gold in the 400 IM.

"It's always just about having fun along with pushing my body to its limit," said McIntosh following her gold medal performance.

"Every single time I get to race on the world stage I've learned more and more about handling mentally and physically and emotionally and trying not to get too high or too low. I'm super happy with the result, but now I'm all about the 200m fly."

Yahoo News Canada learned from sport analytics, kinesiology and physical education experts as to what it takes to become an unstoppable machine like McIntosh.

‘Physiology of a champion’: Expert breaks down what enables McIntosh to swim away at great speed

Cardiovascular physiology expert Robert Bentley explained to Yahoo News Canada how McIntosh’s body beat a unique physiological challenge posed by swimming, as water creates different “resistive, gravitational and thermal conditions” compared to air.

“Despite these unique conditions, Summer’s heart, lung and blood vessels deliver oxygen to her working muscles, allowing them to propel her through the water at remarkable speed,” he said.

Bentley says the mechanics of each of the four different strokes poses a different oxygen cost, with freestyle being the lowest and breast-stroke being the greatest.

“Regardless of stroke, her gold medal performance arose, in part, due to years of training that equipped her muscles with an extraordinary capacity to receive and uptake oxygen. I watched her commanding performance and I couldn’t help but think of the physiology of a champion.”

‘A generational talent’: Experts weigh in on what went into the making of Summer McIntosh

Sport science experts are of the view that when it comes to preparing mentally, athletes like McIntosh make the psychological and mental preparation look easy. However, it's anything but — even for someone who's the daughter of a former Olympian, with McIntosh's mom, Jill Horstead, having competed as a Canadian swimmer at the 1984 Los Angeles Games.

“The same way athletes train their bodies to perform technically and physiologically, they're training their minds to handle the kind of mental pressure that would crush the average person,” Joseph Baker, the Tanenbaum Chair in sport science, data modelling and sports analytics, told Yahoo News Canada.

Kinesiology and physical education expert Madeleine Orr, who is on-the-ground in Paris, believes McIntosh backs her talent with immense hard work and a disciplined work ethic that helps her stay in the right mental space.

“Summer McIntosh is a generational talent and she's clearly got the work ethic to match. The 400 IM is a notoriously hard race. We can look forward to many more such successes, assuming she continues her career for another Olympiad,” Orr wrote to Yahoo News Canada.

Canadians make sound levels in Paris go boom!

McIntosh’s win was followed by Canadians cherishing her feat not just back home, but also anywhere and everywhere else in the world, including Paris.

“The Canadians here in Paris were elated over this historic win," said Orr. "In Canada Olympic House, where many fans and supporters watched in Paris, the decibel level went off the charts.”

Orr also used the opportunity to weigh in on what the teenager’s gold win meant for Canadian women back home.

“Canadian women are consistently over-achieving on the world stage. Summer's success, building on Maggie's and Penny's, and the many other incredible Canadian women swimmers, are part of a bigger trend across all sports: when we invest in women athletes and women's sport, the results speak for themselves.”

It's a sentiment shared by Baker, who also declared McIntosh a “once in a generation swimming talent” for delivering an “amazing moment for Canadian swimming,” before predicting what the future could look like for her.

“While it's tough to predict what her career will be, the things she's accomplished at such a young age suggest she's poised to make great contributions to her sport and for Canada. That doesn't mean it's going to be smooth process though. Her further development will require a lot of care and planning."