All seasons in their time - and for Summer McIntosh, 17 and already at her second Games, that meant waking up to the heat in lane 3 from defending champion Zhang Yufei not a moment too soon and not a moment too late on her way to an Olympic-record victory of 2mins 03.03.

The World record stands yet at 2:01.81 but it masks the truth: McIntosh's now has the closest thing to Beijing 2008 home-Olympic champion Liu Zige's 2009 hammer as the fastest ever swim unassisted by a shiny suit of the kind banned since January 1, 2010.

Zhang, in 3, hit the front from the blocks and led at the first turn by a head and shoulders in 27.08, inside world-record pace, McIntosh win 27.38, Tokyo silver medallist Regan Smith, USA, on 27.60. The podium was already in place. There was just a bit of shuffling to do.

No change at half-way, Zhang on 58.81, Liu's pace already a distant dream, McIntosh inching closer, on 58.97, Smith on 59.36.

Zhang felt a strong gust of Summer breeze on the third length, the Canadian locking on to her target and piling on consistent pressure as the only contender to deliver a second sub-32 split to the last wall.

Zhang had no response when the Canadian drew level and started to float past. approaching the turn, the line-up had turned into a classic arrowhead, McIntosh the spike of speed. She turned in 1:30.70, her deficit converted to a 0.73sec lead, and Smith was just 0.07sec shy of the defending champion.

Off the last wall, the race turned into a chase that would end with McIntosh gaining just 0.01sec on Smith on their way to gold in 2:03.03, silver er in 2:03.84, Zhang returning to the podium in 2:05.09.

Victory made it three medals in Paris for the young Canadian so far. On the first day, she took silver behind Ariarne Titmus in the 400m freestyle before gild in the 400IM two days later. Like Léon Marchand, she now has the 200IM as her last solo target, the rounds set to start tomorrow morning.

So, not done yet, as she noted on her terrific week collected her first Olympic prizes in Paris:

"I mean, it's pretty surreal. I haven't reflected on it too much right now. Overall, it's been a pretty amazing Games for me, but yeah, I'm not done yet. I'll have lots of time to celebrate with my friends and family after but right now I'm just keeping it simple."

"I try to rest my brain as much as I do my body and that's kind of what works best for me to prepare for my following races. I think a lot of the times I do very well at big meets like this is just because I can feed off the crowd and knowing my family is out there and being able to represent Canada."

Smith, who also took silver in the 100m backstroke behind Australia's Kaylee McKeown and today was back in the fray after the 'fly final to qualify for the 200m back showdown, was thrilled with runner-up three years after the last time it happened in Olympic waters on 'fly in Tokyo:

"I knew that I'd be in the conversation for gold but I literally cannot ask any more of myself in that race. Like that was literally all I could do. So I'm incredibly thrilled and very happy for Summer as well. That's a great time for her."

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