NANTERRE, France — American teammates Katie Grimes and Emma Weyant stood side by side on the Olympic podium, each with a shiny new medal around her neck.
They could celebrate knowing nobody could have caught Canadian Summer McIntosh in her dominant 400-meter individual medley victory Monday night.
“Just so happy to be back on the podium, it’s been kind of a long three years for me,” Weyant said. “So just getting back up there with a teammate means the world.”
McIntosh, the 17-year-old sensation touched in 4 minutes, 27.71 seconds to capture Olympic gold in commanding fashion.
Grimes finished second in 4:33.40 for silver and Weyant earned bronze with a 4:33.93.
For Weyant, this was a comeback of sorts on the biggest stage. She was disqualified in the prelims at the U.S. National Championships last summer for doing a dolphin kick during the breaststroke leg.
“This is kind of like a redemption year, that’s been my mindset the whole year,” Weyant said. “Getting that out of my head definitely was not at the forefront but definitely putting in the work to get back to where I need to be.”
Former world recordholder Ryan Murphy earned bronze in the 100-meter backstroke, while teammate Luke Hobson earned one of his own in the 200 freestyle in the third night of swimming competition at La Defense Arena.
“I feel great. I couldn’t be happier,” Hobson said. “It was a really close race and I gave it everything I had in the last 50 meters.”
Murphy, who owns the Olympic record of 51.85 in the 100 back set in Rio de Janeiro eight years ago, touched in 52.39 in a fantastic final 50 meters by the medalists. Thomas Ceccon of Italy won gold in 52.00, ahead of China’s Xu Jiayu (52.32).
It was Murphy’s seventh medal overall from three Olympics.
Lilly King just missed the podium in 100-meter breaststroke in yet another close finish at these Games.
Only one-hundredth of a second separated bronze medalist Mona McSharry of Ireland and the fourth-place tie between King and Italy’s Benedetta Pilato in 1:05.60. South Africa’s Tatjana Smith won gold.
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AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games
