The third evening of the final in the Paris swimming pool is dominated by the premieres of two teenagers: 17-year-old Summer McIntosh and David Popovici, who is two years older, win their first Olympic gold.
Canadian Summer McIntosh triumphed in the 400 m medley. Two days after winning her first medal at the Summer Games in the 400 m crawl, the 17-year-old prodigy from Toronto dominated her competition from start to finish. In a time of 4:27.71 minutes, the world record holder clearly relegated the Americans Katie Grimes (4:33.40) and Emma Weyant (4:34.93) to the following places.
Popovici wins after a hundredth of a second thriller
Romanian David Popovici had to fight much harder in the 200m crawl. Things did not look good for the 19-year-old from Bucharest for a long time. Ten meters before the finish he was still behind, before he prevailed in a real thriller by a wafer-thin margin over the Briton Matthew Richards and the American Luke Hobson. In 1:44.72 minutes, Popovici finished just two and seven hundredths ahead of his two rivals respectively.
In 2022, Popovici achieved a rare double by winning the world titles in the 100 and 200 m crawl. Last year, however, the Eastern European had problems reconciling his performances with his school-leaving certificate and driving license. Now, however, he seems to be back at his best in good time. On Wednesday, Popovici will once again be one of the favourites in the 100 m crawl.
Titmus beaten by compatriot
The other gold medals on Monday were secured by South African Tatjana Smith (100 m breaststroke), Olympic champion over the double distance three years ago, Italian Thomas Ceccon (100 m backstroke) and Australian Mollie O'Callaghan (200 m crawl). The latter snatched her countrywoman Ariarne Titmus' fourth Olympic gold in an Olympic record.
