Paris Olympics Day 6: Summer McIntosh wins another medal

PARIS — Summer McIntosh, Canada’s 17-year-old swimming sensation, claimed her second gold medal of the Paris Olympics with another strong performance, romping to victory in the 200-meter butterfly and dealing Regan Smith of the U.S. another runner-up finish.

“It means the world,” McIntosh said. “That was definitely one of my favorite races.”

McIntosh finished in 2 minutes, 3.03 seconds to set an Olympic record, breaking the mark set by China’s Zhang Yufei three years ago in Tokyo. She also won gold in the 400 individual medley and took silver in the 400 freestyle.

Kate Douglass of the United States won gold in the 200 breaststroke in a race that was something of a changing of the guard. Longtime American star Lilly King, competing in her last Olympics, was last in the final.

She made her way over several lane ropes to give a hug to Douglass, one of the world’s most versatile swimmers and now a gold medalist.

It was the fourth swimming gold for the world’s most dominant swimming nation, to go along with 11 silver medals and six bronzes.

In the final swimming event of the night, Australia’s Mollie O’Callaghan, Lani Pallister, Brianna Throssell and Ariarne Titmus won the women’s 800 freestyle relay in an Olympic-record time, narrowly missing the world record. Claire Weinstein, Paige Madden, Katie Ledecky and Erin Gemmell got the U.S. silver, and China finished with bronze.

Ledecky collected the 13th medal of her stellar career to become the most decorated woman in swimming history.

In her next-to-last event of these games, Ledecky broke the mark she shared with fellow Americans Dara Torres, Natalie Coughlin and Jenny Thompson. The 27-year-old now has eight golds, four silvers and one bronze over four Olympics, with every intention of swimming on to Los Angeles in 2028.

U.S. beats Belgium

The U.S. women’s basketball team clinched a spot in the quarterfinals by beating Belgium, 87-74. Breanna Stewart led all scorers with 26 points, and A’ja Wilson had 23 points and 13 rebounds.

The U.S. women are on a 57-game Olympic winning streak that dates to Barcelona in 1992.

This was one of the closer games during the historic run of seven consecutive gold medals. Only three contests have been single-digit victories.

The Americans (2-0) faced a loud, spirited pro-Belgium crowd that made up most of the 25,044 in attendance. The arena is about 30 minutes away from the country’s border.

The U.S. closes out pool play Sunday against Germany, which also is 2-0.

Women’s tennis upset

Top-ranked women’s tennis player Iga Swiatek does not lose a whole lot in Paris. She has won the French Open each of the past three years and four times in the past five.

Swiatek’s lengthy winning streak in Paris ended with a surprising 6-2, 7-5 loss to China’s Zheng Qinwen in the semifinals. The 23-year-old from Poland had won 25 consecutive matches at Roland Garros.

Carlos Alcaraz of Spain became the youngest man to reach the singles semifinals at a Summer Games since Novak Djokovic in 2008. After beating American Tommy Paul, Alcaraz next faces Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime, who knocked off three-time major runner-up Casper Ruud of Norway.

Djokovic overcame problems with his surgically repaired right knee and erased a big deficit in the second set to beat Stefanos Tsitsipas, 6-3, 7-6 (3). He is into the Olympic semifinals for the fourth time as he tries to collect his first gold medal.

Next up for Djokovic, a 37-year-old from Serbia with 24 Grand Slam titles, is Lorenzo Musetti of Italy on Friday. Musetti advanced with a 7-5, 7-5 victory over Tokyo Games gold medalist Alexander Zverev of Germany.

Thursday also brought to an end the career of Andy Murray, who along with Britain partner Dan Evans was knocked out of doubles play with a loss to Americans Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul.