Paris Olympics: Swimming’s next generation, from all over the globe, claims the spotlight

Swimming’s next generation of stars claimed the spotlight at the Paris Olympics on Monday night, a brash group that comes from all over the globe.

Summer McIntosh, the 17-year-old phenom from Canada.

David Popovici, a 19-year-old from Romania.

Mollie O’Callaghan, a 20-year-old speedster who took down her mighty Australian teammate, Ariarne Titmus.

Throw in an Italian gold medalist, and another from South Africa, and it was clear that swimming’s reach stretches far beyond the traditional powerhouse, the United States. In all, 10 different nations divvied up 15 medals on this night.

Sure, the Americans collected some hardware on Day 3 at La Defense Arena. But it was all silver and bronze, with longtime stalwarts such as Ryan Murphy and Lilly King touching behind other nations.

McIntosh claimed the first gold medal of her rapidly blossoming career with a dominating victory in the 400-meter individual medley.

Popovici won a stirring duel to take the men’s 200 freestyle, which featured three different leaders on the final lap.

Then perhaps the biggest surprise of all: Titmus, the world-record holder and defending gold medalist in the women’s 200 free, was knocked off by O’Callaghan.

Titmus, who had started the games with a dominant victory in the 400 freestyle, could only stand off to the side this time, applauding her teammate’s come-from-behind victory.

McIntosh seemed to take it all in stride. Maybe it’s because she competed at the Tokyo Olympics at age 14, so she sort of feels like a veteran now.

“Every single time I get to race on the world stage, I learn more and more about handling it mentally and physically and emotionally and trying not to get too high or too low,” McIntosh said.

McIntosh collected her first medal of any color on the opening night of swimming, taking a silver in the 400 free behind Titmus — and ahead of Katie Ledecky.

Now, McIntosh has the most prized color of all.

“I try to take every event very individually and just do my work, but starting off for me — getting on the podium — is definitely a great way to start,” McIntosh said. “You try to continue to get better and better.”

She pushed the pace hard through the first half of the grueling race — the butterfly and backstroke legs — to leave everyone in her wake except American Katie Grimes.

McIntosh was under her own world-record pace, but couldn’t keep it going. She touched in 4 minutes, 27.71 seconds, more than three seconds off the mark of 4:24.38 she set at the Canadian trials in May.

But it was more than enough to blow away the field in the Olympic final.

She’s got a grueling schedule in Paris which includes two more individual races — the 200 butterfly and 200 IM.

There are no plans to celebrate just yet.

“I mean, obviously I’m super happy with this gold,” McIntosh said. “But now I’m all about the 200 fly on day five.”

Grimes, who is also swimming the open water event in Paris, held on to claim the silver in 4:33.40. The Americans also grabbed the bronze when Emma Weyant touched in 4:34.93.