Maggie Mac Neil

Mac Neil was part of the Canadian women's team at the 2019 World Aquatics Championships in Gwangju. She first won a bronze medal as part of the 4×100 m freestyle relay team, alongside Penny Oleksiak, Taylor Ruck, Kayla Sanchez, and Rebecca Smith. Mac Neil then competed in and won gold in the women's 100 metre butterfly,[8] beating four-time World and reigning Olympic champion Sarah Sjöström, in what was considered a major upset.[9] She closed out the championships as part of the Canadian 4×100 m medley team, swimming the final with Kylie Masse, Sydney Pickrem and Oleksiak. The team finished third, winning Mac Neil's second bronze medal of the event, and setting a record of eight medals for Canada at a single world championship.[10]

Competing for the University of Michigan, Mac Neil first tied the NCAA record for the 100 yard butterfly, and then broke it at the 2021 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships in March 2021. She was the first in the NCAA to post a time under 49 seconds (48.89), and the first Michigan swimmer to win an NCAA title since 2008.[11] She went on to win a second gold medal at the same championship, taking the 100 yard freestyle title.[12]

In June 2021, she qualified to represent Canada at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.[13] Mac Neil first competed as part of the Canadian team for the 4×100 m freestyle relay, replacing Ruck for the event final and swimming a 53.47 second split to help take the silver medal, Mac Neil's first Olympic medal.[14] The following day, Mac Neil competed in the final of the 100 m butterfly event, taking the gold medal by a margin of 0.05 seconds over China's Zhang Yufei, setting a new personal best and Americas record of 55.59. She was the first Canadian gold medalist of the 2020 Tokyo Games.[15] Mac Neil wears glasses, and without contacts or prescription goggles, could not immediately see her results; it took her a few seconds to focus on the results board and realize she won gold.[16] Cameras focused on her squinting at the results board, and she said after that "I was just trying to squint and see where I came. I heard my name getting called, so I knew I must have done something good."[16] Mac Neil's final event was the 4×100 m medley relay, where she posted a 55.27 time in her leg of the relay and the Canadian team won the bronze medal, Mac Neil's third of the Olympics.[17] The Association of National Olympic Committees subsequently named her the "Best Female Athlete of Tokyo 2020".[18] She was one of seven finalists for the 2021 Lou Marsh Trophy, awarded annually to Canada's top athlete.[19]

At the end of the year, Mac Neil was part of the Canadian delegation to the 2021 FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m) in Abu Dhabi, the top international event competed in a short course pool. She won the gold medal in the 50 m backstroke, setting a new world record in the process, afterward admitting that she would never have expected to set her first world record in that stroke.[20] She won gold as well in the 100 m butterfly with a national record time of 55.04, making her the first woman to hold Olympic, World Aquatic, World Swimming, and NCAA titles in the same event simultaneously, and the second person to do so after Aaron Peirsol. She won three other medals, two gold and a silver, in relay events at the championships.[21]

Mac Neil concluded her time at the University of Michigan with two bronze medals at the 2022 NCAA Division I Women's Swimming and Diving Championships. A slip and fall on the pool deck while attending the championships resulted in a "slight" elbow fracture that required rehabilitation.[22] On March 25, she announced that she would be transferring to finish her final year of NCAA eligibility at the University of California, Berkeley, where she would be beginning graduate studies.[23]

In the months following the Olympics, Mac Neil had begun to struggle with the weight of expectations on her, and following discussions with Swimming Canada's high performance staff, opted not to attempt a defense of her World title at the 2022 World Aquatics Championships. She instead planned to participate in relay events there, and then return to competing the butterfly at the 2022 Commonwealth Games later in the year. Reflecting on the decision, she said "it's hard to stay at the top and that pressure really got to me. I need a chill summer."[22]