Maggie Mac Neil Produced Many Golden Moments Throughout Sensible 5-Yr Run
The record of Canadian girls to seize Olympic gold in swimming stands at simply 4: Anne Ottenbrite was the lone member of the membership for 32 years after topping the 200 breaststroke on the 1984 Olympics, however since 2016, one swimmer from Canada has topped the rostrum at every Video games: Penny Oleksiak within the 100 freestyle in 2016, Maggie Mac Neil within the 100 butterfly in 2021 and Summer time McIntosh in three occasions this yr in Paris.
McIntosh has change into the clear prime swimmer on this planet after Oleksiak, Taylor Ruck and Kylie Masse, a backstroker with a number of world titles plus medals at three consecutive Olympics, had been the important thing figures within the preliminary renaissance of the nation’s swimming program. Mac Neil fell in between, along with her slim win within the 100 fly last in Tokyo over China’s Zhang Yufei, Australia’s Emma McKeon and the US’ Torri Huske. That will be Mac Neil’s lone particular person Olympic medal, and he or she additionally picked up two relay medals at these Video games.
The follow-up efficiency in Paris left Mac Neil within the unfortunate fourth-place place on 4 events. At one level within the 100 fly last, the defending champion appeared to be in second place, however she couldn’t muster her outdated closing velocity as she completed behind Huske, Gretchen Walsh and Zhang. Canada completed two-and-a-half seconds out of rivalry within the 400 free relay, however within the 400 medley relay, Mac Neil really put Canada into second place following the butterfly leg, just for star sprinters anchoring for Australia and China to move McIntosh on the anchor leg.
Maggie Mac Neil on the 2024 Canadian Swimming Trials — Photograph Courtesy: Swimming Canada/Daniel Harrison
That was the final swim of Mac Neil’s profession, with the 24-year-old asserting her retirement final week. After all, it’s the Olympic gold which Mac Neil will likely be best-remembered for, however calling her a one-hit surprise could be an enormous understatement, given the scope of her accomplishments throughout a four-year run from 2019 to 2023.
Who ended the long term of Sarah Sjostrom within the 100 fly? That will be Mac Neil, who pulled off the upset of the meet on the 2019 World Championships. At that time, Sjostrom owned the 11 quickest occasions ever within the occasion, with a world document of 55.48 a half-second faster than anybody else in historical past. She had received three consecutive world titles together with the 2016 Olympic gold. And Mac Neil, in her first main worldwide competitors following her freshman season on the College of Michigan, turned in fifth place within the last, some eight tenths off the tempo.
However Mac Neil’s underwater dolphin kicks, on the way in which to turning into a feared weapon within the sport, put her alongside Sjostrom, and he or she completed in 29.06, then the quickest second-half break up ever, to drag into the lead. She clocked 55.83 that day, at that time making her the second-fastest lady ever. Her rise within the occasion is greatest described as meteoric, with Mac Neil having by no means damaged 58 coming into the yr and having by no means been below 57 previous to her electrical swims in entrance of a worldwide viewers in Gwangju.
Then there was Mac Neil’s exceptional school profession, with 4 undergraduate years with the Wolverines adopted by one season reuniting with former Michigan affiliate head coach Rick Bishop at LSU. Her 2020 championship season was worn out due to COVID-19, however one yr later, months previous to her Olympic debut, Mac Neil was the person star of the 2021 NCAA Championships as she and Virginia sophomore Kate Douglass engaged in three dash duals.
Douglass took spherical one, edging Mac Neil within the 50 free by 4 hundredths, 21.13 to 21.17, however Mac Neil fired again in an epic 100 fly efficiency in the future later, blasting the sector to change into the primary lady ever below 49 along with her time of 48.89. On the meet’s last day, she edged Douglass within the rubber match, coming from behind to win the 100 free in 46.02.
The Olympics got here and went with Mac Neil profitable three gold medals, and months later, she unleashed one other star efficiency on the worldwide stage on the Quick Course World Championships in Abu Dhabi. Gold within the 100 fly, not an enormous shocker, however gold and a world document within the 50 again? Mac Neil certainly completed that, with these stellar underwater kicks off each partitions giving her the sting to guide a Canadian 1-2 end with Masse. Mac Neil additionally ended up with two relay golds and a silver at that meet.
Twelve months later in Melbourne, identical story. 2022 had been an up-and-down yr for Mac Neil, with an injury-plagued NCAA Championships, her final with Michigan, adopted by sturdy relay swims on the lengthy course World Championships however no particular person races. She received 100 fly gold on the Commonwealth Video games after which returned to the Quick Course World Championships for one more gorgeous meet. She lowered her 50 again world document once more and tied Huske for gold within the 50 fly, after which she crushed the world document within the brief course 100 fly by a half-second, ending in 54.05 to win what turned out to be her last global-level gold.
Maggie Mac Neil as an LSU Tiger — Photograph Courtesy: Peter H. Bick
After that second Quick Course Worlds star efficiency, Mac Neil’s lone yr as an LSU Tiger allowed her to depart school swimming because the quickest swimmer. By the 2023 NCAA Championships in Knoxville, Tenn., Virginia’s Gretchen Walsh was properly on her option to turning into school swimming’s all-time dash star, however Mac Neil would hand her one dramatic setback. Mac Neil took the 2023 nationwide title within the 50 free, beating Walsh by six hundredths whereas swimming a time of 20.79 that was the quickest ever. A day later, Mac Neil annihilated her earlier all-time document within the 100 fly from two years earlier, though 48.51 was solely ok for second on this event as Douglass swam even faster at 48.46.
No, Mac Neil’s profession didn’t end the flourish she would have needed. She would by no means once more prime a full-strength worldwide discipline in her signature occasion, with a silver within the 100 fly on the 2023 World Championships previous her fourth-place end in Paris. She did win seven medals, together with three particular person gold, on the Pan American Video games in late 2023, though with none electrical occasions and with out a lot top-notch competitors current. She is ending her profession at a a lot earlier age than most of her contemporaries, who appear poised to swim into their late 20s or past.
However let’s not neglect about how good Mac Neil was at her peek: beating Sjostrom on the peak of her 100 fly success in 2019, the limitations damaged throughout her school profession, the multi-medal performances at Quick Course Worlds giving a glimpse at her skills in that format.
Transferring ahead, a recollection of swimming historical past might overshadow Mac Neil apart from her golden swim in Tokyo. That’s not due to any fault of her personal, simply the style wherein Douglass and Walsh re-wrote the school document books and McIntosh shortly emerged as an all-time nice for Crew Canada. However let’s not neglect simply how dominant Mac Neil was at her peak.
