Two Olympic records fell on night six of swimming as Australia leads the gold medal tally over the United States five to four.

Women’s 200m butterfly - Summer McIntosh blasts second fastest time ever

Canada’s Summer McIntosh swam the fastest 200m butterfly time in 15 years to open up the sixth night of finals. At age 17, McIntosh won her second gold medal of the Games and third overall as she got closer to Liu Zige’s 2:01.81 world record from 2009 than anyone ever has.

The 200m butterfly world record has been so far out of reach for so many years that it was hardly under consideration when entering finals tonight. But McIntosh, who won the World titles in 2022 and 2023, took the race out hard under pressure alongside defending champion Zhang Yufei of China.

Zhang led the first 50m at 27.08, under Liu’s world record. At 100m, Zhang was holding her own at 58.81 but McIntosh was close at 58.97.

On the third 50m, McIntosh, coached by Brent Arckey at the Sarasota Sharks in the United States, showed her endurance dominance with a 31.73 split, turning at 1:30.70, with Zhang (1:31.43) in second and American Regan Smith (1:31.50) in third.

Smith had a big last wall, getting to McIntosh’s hip, but the Canadian originally out of Toronto held her own.

McIntosh touched the wall at 2:03.03 - a new Olympic record and a full second off her lifetime best time.

“Pretty surreal,” McIntosh said of the time. “I’m really happy with the time. I need to rewatch it, I think my finish was a little bit weird, but I can never be upset with a best time, especially by that margin."

She won Canada’s first ever medal in this event at the Games, the same event her mother, Jill Horstead, swam in 1984 in placing ninth.

"It means the world, especially in that event,” McIntosh said. “I always loved the 200 fly growing up, and it was also a fun and enjoyable race, to do it in that way, I’m very happy.

“It’s pretty cool winning the 200 fly because that, by far, was her main event. So to share that moment with her is pretty cool. I know she is so proud of me along with the rest of my family. I can’t thank them enough.”

Smith won her second silver of these Olympics at 2:03.84, matching her silver from Tokyo 2020 for her fifth career Olympic medal. The time for Smith is a lifetime best as she was 2:03.87 last summer in her home pool at Arizona State.

"I feel really great,” Smith said. “I am super proud of that performance. I didn’t know if I was capable of a 2:03 tonight so I am thrilled with it.

“I was hoping to be around 2:04. There is all that talk of the pool being so slow.

"I knew that I’d be in the conversation for gold, but I literally cannot ask any more of myself in that race. I’m so proud of that race. It was all I could do. I’m very happy for Summer as well, that’s a great time."

Now training in Austin, Texas, following Bob Bowman in his job change, Smith is still looking for that elusive Olympic gold medal as she now has four silvers, but the lifetime best in the Olympic final is still an achievement in itself.

"To be honest I don’t want to think about what it means to win gold against silver. If you get too wrapped up in your head about that, you are never going to be happy. I want to be proud of myself regardless. It’s a cliche answer but it is true.

"If this had happened three years ago I would have been gutted and it would have affected my mental health for a long time. And it did. I was struggling after Tokyo for a long time.

"But I’m glad, I have a lot more life experience, and I’m in a much better place in my life with swimming. I love it and it is the biggest passion I’ve had in my life but it is not my entire life.

"But I’m going to keep fighting like hell. If I walk away with a gold medal, excellent, if I don’t, I’m still me and I’m just fine.”

Zhang hung on for the bronze medal at 2:05.09 for her third bronze of these Olympics at age 26. Zhang, coached by Cui Dengrong, won her seventh career Olympic medal and the sixth medal for the Chinese swim team here in Paris.

“I think this is probably one of the most difficult races I’ve had at these Olympics,” Zhang said. “Due to my condition today, the fact that I can swim this time, I’m impressed with myself.

“After this Olympic race, I probably won’t do the 200m butterfly again. Since I won a medal this time, I don’t have any regrets any more about winning this competition.”

Australia’s Elizabeth Dekkers (2:07.11), who won silver at last year’s World Championships, finished tied for fourth with Denmark’s Helena Bach (2:07.11).

United States’s Alex Shackell (2:07.73) finished sixth, ahead of Australia’s Abbey Connor (2:08.15) and Great Britain’s Laura Stephens (2:08.82).

Men’s 200m backstroke - Hubert Kos cool under pressure, Christou wins Greece’s first Olympic medal in swimming since the inaugural Games

Hungary’s Hubert Kos stayed smooth on his stroke and didn’t panic through the first 150 meters of the 200m backstroke final on Thursday night in the La Defense Arena. Kos stayed steady, flipping fourth at the 50m, third at the 100m, second at the 150m, and split his fastest 50m on the last lap at 28.88 to win gold at 1:54.26.

Kos, age 21, won Hungary’s first gold medal in this event since Sándor Wladár won in Moscow 1980 as this is his first career Olympic medal. Kos modeled his post-race celebration after one of his swimming idols, Daniel Gyurta, who won the 200m breaststroke in London 2012.

“I was still a child watching the Olympics (in London 2012) screaming in front of the TV for every Hungarian I saw,” Kos said. “(Daniel Gyurta) was a great inspiration for us all I think and he started in the same pool with the same pool and coaches I had, so I grew up in that same space where he was. He was a great inspiration for me and I was overjoyed in (my celebration). I’m just really overjoyed right now.”

The race was led for 150 meters by Greece’s Apostolos Christou who made history for his nation by winning the first Olympic medal in the swimming pool since Athens 1896. Christou looked to pull the huge upset out of lane two as he had a second lead over Kos at the 150m. Splitting 30.46 on the final 50m, Christou held on to win silver.

“After the second turn, I saw the rest of the field, and I was really ahead without any big effort,” Christou said. “That's why I didn't lose everything in those last metres. I tried and I kept up.”

It was a huge swim for the 27-year-old coached by Panagiotis Velentzas out of Olympiacos, as he dropped a huge best time, coming in at 1:56.34 to win silver at 1:54.82.

“I feel great because two days earlier I lost the medal in the 100m backstroke and it was something like salvation for me to get this medal,” Christou said.

Switzerland’s Roman Mityukov (1:54.85) won bronze for the first of his career at age 24, winning Switzerland’s third career medal in swimming, matching the two bronzes the nation won in Tokyo 2020, showcasing not only a rise in Swiss swimming, but a continuation.

Mityukov, coached by Clement Bailly at the University of Geneva, swam a lifetime best to win bronze.

“It really was not easy these last 24 hours,” Mityukov said. “I haven’t slept. I was only thinking, making scenarios in my head. In your head, you are already a medallist and you are thinking: ‘that’s nice’. But at the same time, I was thinking: ‘stop, if you finish fourth or fifth you will be destroyed’. I am really happy it’s finished. Now, I can enjoy and live my life peacefully.”

France’s Mewen Tomac (1:55.38) moved from eighth to fourth on the last 50m to just miss a podium for the host nation as he heard the roars from the crowd at the finish.

United States’s Keaton Jones (1:55.39) finished fifth as this is the first time since 1992 that no Americans made the 200m backstroke podium at the Olympics.

Spain’s Hugo Gonzalez (1:55.47) finished sixth ahead of South Africa’s Pieter Coetze (1:55.60), who set an African record in seventh. Germany’s Lukas Martens (1:55.97) finished eighth.

Women’s 200m breaststroke - Kate Douglass answers the hype and becomes Olympic champion

American Kate Douglass had a lot of hype around her name the last few years. After a dominant college career in short course yards, many in the United States saw the talent she possessed and knew she was special.

In 2022, she won her first World short course title in the 200m breaststroke and 200m IM. In 2023, she won her first long course World title in the 200m IM. Additionally, she won silver at last year’s Worlds in the 200m breaststroke, just a few minutes after finishing fourth in the 100m freestyle. Douglass, also a world class butterfly swimmer, was a talent swimming had never seen before - elite in both sprint free and breaststroke.

After dropping the 100m freestyle from her Olympic program to go all in on this 200m breaststroke, Douglass meant business. And on Thursday evening at the La Defense Arena on the north side of Paris, Douglass became an Olympic champion.

The 22-year-old, coached by Todd DeSorbo at the University of Virginia, won gold at 2:19.24, setting the American record in the process to sit fourth all-time, lowering her American record from earlier this year.

“When I went that best time in January, I feel like for the last two months I have been trying to get under that again because I feel like I wasn’t fully prepared or rested to go under 2:19,” Douglass said. “Just to be faster than that at the right time at the Olympics, I am really excited about. It’s very hard to go best times here. We all try to peak for our Trials meet and here there is so much pressure. I did a great job handling all of it and swimming my own race.”

Douglass won the United States’s fourth gold medal in the swimming pool and the fourth in this event in the last six Olympics.

South Africa’s Tatjana Smith (2:19.60) was unable to successfully defend her gold medal from Tokyo 2020 as she won the silver for her fourth career medal. Smith, age 27, added to her gold from the 100m breaststroke as still no woman has ever won both the 100m and 200m breaststroke in the same Olympics. Smith, coached by Rocco Meiring, led at 50 meters, but could not hang with Douglass the rest of the way.

Smith announced her retirement from the sport after four career Olympic medals.

"I love swimming and I love what I do, but I definitely think that my season is over,” Smith said. “I'm very grateful and blessed to end off my season in a very good way. I think I'm a very fortunate athlete. I think a lot of people dream and hope to get what I have but, for me, it was never about the medals. It's always just trying to challenge myself, push myself, and that race was exactly that. It’s pushing and that fight and that competitiveness.

"That was an amazing race, so to end it off with a silver, but with a fight. That’s the best way to end it.

“I think it's really just now embracing life and seeing what's outside of swimming, what my passions are outside of swimming. I think when I was swimming I was really focusing on swimming, because to stay motivated you need to be passionate about your sport, and I never really shifted my mind. Now it's going to be tomorrow is day one of the life without swimming.”

Tes Schouten (2:21.05) of the Netherlands, who beat Douglass head to head in February at the World Championships, won bronze for the second medal for the Dutch team in the pool, matching Caspar Corbeau’s bronze from last night’s men’s 200m breaststroke. Schouten, coached by Mark Faber, was neck and neck with Douglass and Smith for 150 meters, but could not hang on to the pace. She won her first Olympic medal at age 23 in her second Games.

"It feels a bit unreal,” Schouten said after the race. “I don't really know how to explain it. I am happy and I am really shocked. I don't think it has really kicked in as of yet. I feel a little weird, I can't wait for the ceremony, and then I think everything will kick in. I will see my parents and coach, and then it will start to feel real. I am like, did this really happen or is it a dream?"

Japan’s Satomi Suzuki, the oldest Japanese swimmer to compete in the Olympics at age 33, finished fourth at 2:22.54, her first Olympic final since she won silver in London 2012 in this event.

“My goal was to set a new personal best, so I didn’t achieve that,” Suzuki said to Japanese TV after the final. “However, making it to the final in the 200m after 12 years was an extraordinary opportunity and an incredible experience. Additionally, moving up to 4th place has sparked a new sense of ambition and a desire for improvement in myself. I plan to discuss my future career with my coach after the Games.”

Suzuki, coached by Tadahiko Kanda, finished ahead of Lithuania’s Kotryna Teterevkova (2:23.75) in fifth.

China’s Ye Shiwen (2:24.31) finished sixth, ahead of Smith’s South African teammate Kaylene Corbett (2:24.46) and the United States’s Lilly King (2:25.91), who won silver in Tokyo 2020.

Women’s 4x200m freestyle - Australia wins first 4x200m Olympic gold since 2008

After winning gold and silver in the individual 200m freestyle on Monday night, the Aussies were heavily favoured to win the 4x200m and chase after the world record the team set last year.

The quartet of Mollie O’Callaghan (1:53.52), Lani Pallister (1:55.61), Brianna Throssell (1:56.00) and Ariarne Titmus (1:52.95) swam 7:38.08 to set an Olympic record and win the first relay gold for the Australians since 2008. After silver in London 2012 and Rio 2016 and bronze in Tokyo 2020, the Australians were elevated to gold for the fifth time this week as they swept the women’s freestyle relay golds.

"It was really fun,” Titmus said. “I feel like a bit of redemption for us. Tokyo was definitely not the result we wanted and I wasn't personally happy with my performance in Tokyo. I put pressure on myself to lift this team, I feel like I have a role to play. I think I did that tonight. I'm proud they had the faith in me to put me last and get the job done."

"Tokyo was a big learning curve for me after the first few days winning the double gold,” Titmus said. “You don't realise how much of an emotional toll it takes on you.

"I have let my emotions out a little bit this week, tried to get it out my system and reset for the relay. My week is broken into two pockets of racing, so I'm into the second block now. Try to stay relaxed tonight and get ready for the morning."

The United States won silver at 7:40.86, matching the silver the team won in Tokyo 2020 as the team of Claire Weinstein (1:54.88), Paige Madden (1:55.65), Katie Ledecky (1:54.88), and Erin Gemmell (1:55.40) gave the Australians a fight throughout the entirety of the race. The silver is the tenth of such color on the week for the Americans.

Ledecky won her 13th career Olympic medal, the most for any American female Olympian.

“It hasn’t really sunk in because I have one more race,” Ledecky said. “To accomplish that with a relay feels fitting to me. I’ve been on that relay so many times over the years with so many great people. It’s special to do it as part of a relay and have such a great performance with all of them.”

China won bronze at 7:42.34 with the team of Yang Junxuan (1:54.52), Li Bingjie (1:55.05), Ge Chutong (1:57.45), and Liu Yaxin (1:55.32) as the team won China’s seventh medal of the week in the swimming venue.

The quickest splits outside the medallists came from Canada’s Summer McIntosh (1:53.97), Great Britain’s Freya Colbert (1:55.95), Brazil’s Maria Fernanda Costa (1:56.06) and Hungary’s Nikolett Padar (1:56.14).

Canada finished fourth at 7:46.05 ahead of Great Britain (7:48.23). Hungary (7:50.52), Brazil (7:52.90), and New Zealand (7:55.89) also swam in the Olympic final.

Semis Wrap

Men’s 50m freestyle

Great Britain’s Ben Proud (21.38) and Australia’s Cameron McEvoy (21.38) turned in identical times in Thursday’s semi-finals of the 50m freestyle, setting up a battle for the ages in tomorrow’s final. Proud, age 29, and McEvoy, age 30, are still searching for their first individual Olympic medals.

In their storied careers, they have both won World titles in this event, but the Olympic medal still eludes them. McEvoy was seventh in the 100m freestyle in Rio 2016 and Proud was fourth in the 50m in Rio 2016 and fifth in Tokyo 2020.

The race tomorrow will also feature two of the last three Olympic champions in Tokyo 2020 gold medalist Caeleb Dressel (21.58) of the United States and London 2012 gold medalist Florent Manaudou (21.64) as the fifth and eighth seed, respectively.

“I think I got more self-confidence than the others, because that’s my fourth and I don’t have anything to seek any more,” Manaudou said. “I’m happy to be able to come in this Games with a smile and to have this public cheering for France during all the Olympics is incredible, strongly emotional. Tonight I’ll sleep well, tomorrow it will be one more.”

Italy’s Leonardo Deplano (21.50) is the third seed ahead of Jordan Crooks (21.54) of the Cayman Islands, who is the first swimmer from his nation to make an Olympic final.

France’s Maxime Grousset (21.60), fresh off the excitement of the crowd, and Greece’s Kristian Gkolomeev (21.62), fresh off the excitement of his nation’s first swimming medal in 128 years, also qualified for the Olympic final.

Grousset scratched the final and Canada’s Joshua Liendo (21.69) will take the last spot.

Women’s 200m backstroke

The entire final for tomorrow will be separated by 1.47 seconds as the American Phoebe Bacon turned in the top semi time at 2:07.32. Bacon, who was fifth in Tokyo, will be looking to win the gold back for the United States after Missy Franklin won in 2012 and Maya DiRado won in 2016. She will be joined by fellow American Regan Smith (2:08.14), who won silver in the 200m butterfly earlier in the night.

"I always believe in good, better, best,” Smith said. “A good prelim, better semi, getting into a decent lane for the final, then giving it everything you’ve got for the final.

"We do a lot of that throughout the year. We have a lot of sessions where I have two races in the span of 20 minutes, so thankfully it is something I have trained for. Granted at the Olympics it is different because it is a much higher stress environment. But it’s not my first rodeo."

Defending champion and world record holder Kaylee McKeown (2:07.57) of Australia eased through the semis as she has already won gold in the 100m backstroke at these Olympics and going for back to back in this event as well. No woman has ever won the 100m and 200m backstroke at back to back Olympics.

Defending silver medalist Kylie Masse (2:07.92) of Canada is seeded fifth after she was fourth in the 100m backstroke final earlier this week on Tuesday night.

Great Britain’s Honey Osrin (2:07.84), China’s Peng Xuwei (2:07.86), Great Britain’s Katie Shanahan (2:08.52) and Anastasiya Shkurdai (2:08.79) also will swim in tomorrow’s Olympic final.

Men’s 200m IM

France’s Leon Marchand is once again going to be the center of attention tomorrow night in the 200m IM as the top seed at 1:56.31. Marchand is looking to be the third swimmer ever to win four individual gold medals at a single Olympics after Kristin Otto (1988) and Michael Phelps (2004, 2008).

"I feel better than this morning, I will be in the center tomorrow, that was the goal,” Marchand said. “I went full gas, it wasn’t easy. I’ll try to recover now because I’m exhausted. I have to do a big night, to eat and drink well, then it’ll be good for tomorrow."

Marchand’s biggest challenger will be United States’s Carson Foster (1:56.37), who won bronze in the 400m IM on Sunday. Foster was second at the 2022 World Championships after leading for 100 meters over Marchand.

The defending gold and silver medalist from Tokyo, Wang Shun (1:56.54) of China and Duncan Scott (1:56.49) of Great Britain, also qualified and will give Marchand a run tomorrow if fatigue can play any factor for him.

2019 World champ Daiya Seto (1:56.59) of Japan also qualified, as did last year’s Worlds bronze medalist Tom Dean (1:56.92) of Great Britain.

Italy’s Alberto Razzetti (1:57.10) and Canada’s Finlay Knox (1:57.76) also will swim in the Olympic final tomorrow night.

Let's Recap | Swimming at the Paris 2024 Olympics Games 

• Day 1: Australia takes two golds to open first night of swimming in Paris
• Day 2: Leon Marchand delivers on a storied night in French sports history
• Day 3: Summer McIntosh and David Popovici answer hype, become Olympic champions
• Day 4: Kaylee McKeown, Daniel Wiffen on top of the world on night four in Paris
• Day 5: Leon: The Professional; Marchand does the double