Summer McIntosh named Canada Athlete of the Year

Swimmer Summer McIntosh was named Canada Athlete of the Year after winning three individual gold medals at the Paris Olympics.

McIntosh, 18, was named the Northern Star Award winner by Canadian sports journalists, who meet to decide the nation’s top athlete each December.

This past summer, McIntosh, a Toronto native who trains in Florida, won the 200m butterfly and 200m and 400m individual medleys at the Paris Games. She is the first Canadian to win three golds at one Olympics.

Then on Tuesday, she opened the world short course championships in Budapest by winning the 400m freestyle and breaking the world record by more than one second. Short course worlds are held in a 25-meter pool rather than the 50-meter pools used for the Olympics and other major international meets.

McIntosh is the second swimmer to be named Canada Athlete of the Year in the last 30 years after Penny Oleksiak, who won in 2016 at age 16 after taking four medals at the Rio Games.

Other notable Canadian athletes this year included hockey players Nathan MacKinnon and Natalie Spooner, the reigning MVPs of the NHL and PWHL.

Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, last year’s Northern Star Award winner, made the All-NBA First Team for a second consecutive season.

Five more Canadians won individual gold in Paris: Ethan Katzberg (hammer throw), Camryn Rogers (hammer throw), Christa Deguchi (judo), Katie Vincent (canoe) and Phil Wizard (breaking).