Summer McIntosh to swim for 1st Olympic medal in women's 400m freestyle

Summer McIntosh will have another chance to earn her first Olympic swimming medal on Saturday afternoon.

The Canadian teen sensation qualified fourth for the women's 400-metre freestyle final at 2:52 p.m. ET, posting a time of four minutes 2.65 seconds in her heat at La Defense Arena in Paris.

McIntosh, 17, was fourth (4:02.42) in the race in her 2021 Olympic debut in Tokyo, and will look to become only the second Canadian to reach the Olympic medal podium in the women's event, joining Shannon Smith (bronze, 1976 in Montreal).

McIntosh, who hails from Toronto, captured silver medals in the 400 free in 2022 at the Commonwealth Games and world championships.

McIntosh also has a spot in the 400 individual medley — in which she holds the world record — 200 butterfly and 200 medley in Paris, and could be part of as many as four relay events.

WATCH | McIntosh secures spot in Olympic 400m freestyle final:

And there is an opportunity for her to surpass Penny Oleksiak's four-medal haul from 2016 in Rio, the Canadian record for a single Summer Games.

In Saturday's heat, McIntosh finished 1-10th of a second behind winner Erika Fairweather of New Zealand.

American Katie Ledecky (4:02.19) took the third and final heat over Australian rival and world record holder Ariarne Titmus (4:02.46).

WATCH | McIntosh speaks with CBC Sports' Devin Heroux before Paris Olympics:

Titmus, known as "The Terminator," got off to a fast start but couldn't hold off the hard-charging Ledecky on the final lap. Titmus posted the second-fastest time in the preliminaries, setting up a side-by-side showdown with Ledecky in the final.

She didn't mind finishing behind Ledecky in the prelims.

"The only job for me was just to get in the middle lanes," Titmus said. "I tried to conserve as much as I could."

Ledecky captured 2016 Olympic gold, followed by Titmus five years later.