Canadian Swimming Preview: 2024 Olympics

This is definitely a very special period in Canadian swimming, especially on the women’s side. At the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Canada won six medals. Then at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021, Team Canada earned six more medals.

At the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, we could see Canadian swimming sensation Summer McIntosh of Toronto, Ontario win all four individual events she is entered in (women’s 400m freestyle on July 27 at 12:52 PM MT, women’s 400 metre individual medley on July 29 at 12:30 PM MT, women’s 200 metre butterfly on August 1 at 12:30 PM MT, and women’s 200m individual medley on August 3 at 1:01 PM MT), and two relay events (women’s 4×100 metre freestyle on July 27 @ 1:34 PM and women’s 4×100 medley relay on August 4 at 11:26 PM). In fact, Mcintosh would have been a medal contender as well in the women’s 800 metre freestyle, and women’s 200 metre freestyle, if she had decided to go into those events.

When being considered one of the greatest Canadian Olympians of all-time, comes a lot of scrutiny and pressures. When asked if she is feeling the tension, McIntosh offered the following response.

“So far it has been pretty easy,” she states, “We are focused on each other (her Canadian swimming teammates) and we don’t real feel any outside noise. It has been amazing to work together as a team to have that close knit bond.”

Other Canadian medal hopefuls are Maggie Mac Neil of London, Ontario in the women’s 100 metre butterfly (July 28 at 12:45 pm MT), Kylie Masse of Windsor, Ontario in the women’s 100 metre backstroke (July 3o at 12:57 PM MT), and the women’s 200 metre backstroke (August 2 @ 12:36 PM MT), Josh Liendo of Toronto, Ontario in the men’s 50 metre freestyle (August 2 @ 10:30 AM MT), in the men’s 1o0 metre freestyle (July 31 @ 2:15 PM MT), and in the men’s 200 metre butterfly (August 3 @ 12:30 PM MT), and Finlay Knox of Okotoks, Alberta in the men’s 200 metre individual medley (August 2 @ 12:49 PM MT).

Mac Neil will be part of the women’s 4×100 metre freestyle relay even though she is a butterfly specialist. At the 2023 Pan American Games in Santiago, Mac Neil won the gold medal in the women’s 50 metre freestyle and 100 metre freestyle. Mac Neil got a lot of confidence from those two gold medals.