Summer McIntosh grabbed the first Olympic gold of her career at 17 years of age in 4:27.71, a dominant 5.69sec ahead of next home in a 400m medley final that has had her name against the title since she was a 14-year-old racing at her first Games in Tokyo with obvious multi-skill promise.

It was the first-ever victory in the event for a Canadian woman and made it the third successive Games at which the Maple swim squad has celebrated a champion in the pool, after Penny Oleksiak (100m freestyle, 2016) and Maggie Mac Neil (100m butterfly, 2021).

In the battle for silver and bronze, Americans Katie Grimes and Emma Weyant, the silver medallist last time round in Tokyo, got their hand top the wall ahead of Britain's Freya Colbert, all of them having had a fine race, the times slightly less worthy of any comment because there's something at play not yet fully understood but becoming clearer with each passing day.

From the metaphoric gun, McIntosh mesmerised with a flatlining 'fly that barely hides its core of steel, so sharp the edge of efficiency. Her 58.50 was the fastest anyone had ever started a 400m medley, at least one that ended in survival, let alone Olympic gold.

The pace sits in the middle of the two world 100m butterfly records held by a certain Mary T. Meagher. A legend if ever there was one, and, like McIntosh, a joy to watch, in part because of the lack of dead zone in the gap between gather and propel, if that makes sense. In a 400IM, a different kind of dead zone comes a bit later.

Consider what it takes to open with a Mary T., back everything up with the stamina of an 8:11 over 800 free; add salt, pepper and a huge dose of versatility and no wonder she won the 400IM by a chunk.

In the rest of this article, why McIntosh talks about "not too high, not too low", the splits and quotes and a gallery of photos from Patrick B. Kraemer