Following a year in which she became the first Canadian athlete to win three gold medals at a single Olympic Games, Summer McIntosh was named Canada’s finest athlete of 2024. The 18-year-old swimmer also received the Northern Star Award.
McIntosh took home silver in the 400-metre freestyle and gold in the 400-metre individual medley, 200-metre butterfly, and 200-metre individual medley at this year’s Paris Olympics. Her podium finish tied with Penny Oleksiak, also a swimmer, for the most medals a Canadian competitor has earned at a single summer Games.
Northern Star Award winner
Moreover, she also smashed the world record in the short-course 400-metre freestyle in Budapest and was named the Northern Star Award recipient.
Other finalists for the honour included Olympic hammer throw gold medallist Ethan Katzberg, NHL star Connor McDavid, and NBA player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who won the trophy in 2023 for the Oklahoma City Thunder. Past winners also include Bayern Munich’s Alphonso Davies in 2020, former U.S. Open tennis champion Bianca Andreescu in 2019, and Oleksiak in 2016.
The Northern Star Award was voted by a panel of Canadian sports journalists, and was once known as the Lou Marsh Trophy. This is presented yearly by the Toronto Star newspaper.
Source: CNA