The women's 200 metre individual medley event at the 2024 Summer Olympics was held on 2 and 3 August 2024 at Paris La Défense Arena, which was converted to a swimming pool for the swimming events.[1] Since an Olympic size swimming pool is 50 metres long, each competitor had to swim four lengths of the pool—one length with each stroke.[a]
In the final, McIntosh won with a new Olympic and world junior record of 2:06.56, while Douglass finished second with 2:06.92, Walsh finished third with 2:07.06 and McKeown finished fourth with 2:08.08. However, after the race Walsh was disqualified for doing an illegal backstroke to breaststroke turn, meaning McKeown was awarded the bronze medal instead. McIntosh's win made her the first Canadian Olympian to win three gold medals at a single Games.
SwimSwam predicted McKeown would win, Douglass would take second and McIntosh would take third, while Swimming World predicted McIntosh would win, Douglass would take second and McKeown would take third.[2][5]
Prior to the start of the event, Douglass, McKeown and McIntosh had all won gold medals in previous events, and SwimSwam reported that the event "looked to be an even higher-stakes race than expected".[6]
Each National Olympic Committee (NOC) was permitted to enter a maximum of two qualified athletes in each individual event, but only if both of them had attained the Olympic Qualifying Time (OQT).[7] For this event, the OQT was 2:11.47. World Aquatics then filled the rest of the event places with athletes qualifying through universality; NOCs were given one event entry for each gender, which could be used by any athlete regardless of qualification time, providing the spaces had not already been taken by athletes from that nation who had achieved the OQT.[7][3] In total, 23 athletes qualified through achieving the OQT, while 11 athletes qualified through universality places.[3]
Three heats took place on 2 August 2024, starting at 11:17.[b][8] The swimmers with the best 16 times in the heats advanced to the semifinals.[9] McIntosh qualified with the fastest time of 2:09.90. Walsh, Douglass and McKeown all qualified.[10][11]
Two semifinals took place on 2 August, starting at 21:31.[12] The swimmers with the best eight times in the semifinals advanced to the final.[9]Canada's Sydney Pickrem won the first semifinal to qualify with the fifth fastest time of 2:09.65,[12] while Alex Walsh won the second semifinal to qualify with the fastest time of 2:07.45.[13] Douglass, McKeown, Great Britain's Abbie Wood, China's Yu Yiting and Australia's Ella Ramsay also qualified.[13] Ramsay later withdrew from the final due to illness, and in the end there was only seven swimmers in the final.[14]
Japan's Yui Ohashi, the defending Olympic champion in the event, did not qualify.[15]South Africa's Rebecca Meder lowered her own national record with 2:10.67, but the time was not fast enough to qualify.[16]
The final took place at 21:08 on 3 August.[17] Walsh led the race at the 150 metre mark, but over the final 50 metres she was overtaken by McIntosh and Douglass.[18][19] McIntosh won with a new Olympic record, world junior record and national record of 2:06.56.[20][21] Douglass finished second with 2:06.92, Walsh finished third with 2:07.06 and McKeown finished fourth with 2:08.08.[18] After the race Walsh was disqualified for doing an illegal backstroke to breaststroke turn, meaning McKeown was awarded the bronze medal instead.[22][23]
McIntosh's Olympic record broke Katinka Hosszú's mark from the Rio 2016 Olympics.[24] Her win made her the first Canadian Olympian to win three gold medals at a single Games, and it was her fourth medal.[25]
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