Swimmer Summer McIntosh won the Northern Star Award on Tuesday as the top Canadian athlete of the year for 2024, following a year in which she became the first athlete from her country to win three gold medals in one Olympics.
At the Paris Olympics, McIntosh won gold in the 400 m individual medley, 200 m butterfly and 200 m individual medley, as well as silver in the 400 m freestyle.
Her four podium finishes tied her with swimmer Penny Oleksiak for the most medals won by a Canadian athlete at a summer games.
McIntosh, 18, was announced as the winner of the Northern Star award shortly after she broke the world record in the short 400m freestyle in Budapest.
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Other finalists for the award included 2023 winner Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the NBA’s Oklahoma City Thunder, NHL player Connor McDavid and Olympic gold medalist hammer thrower Ethan Katzberg.
The Northern Star Award, formerly known as the Lou Marsh Trophy, is presented annually by the Toronto Star newspaper and is selected by a panel of Canadian sports journalists.
Previous winners include Bayern Munich’s Alphonso Davies (2020), former US Open tennis champion Bianca Andreescu (2019) and Oleksiak (2016).
