Edmonton Journal

Golden girl Mac Neil hints best is yet to come in pool

100m butterfly champ says Canada’s women ready to put on a show in Tokyo

- SCOTT STINSON

Maggie Mac Neil had her head down. She was swimming her race, powering through the final few kicks of the 100-metre butterfly when she touched the wall.

“I heard the announcer say my name, so was I like, `Oh, I must have done something good,' ” said the 21-year-old from London,

Ont. But, one problem: Mac Neil doesn't wear her contact lenses while racing. She's not able to read the scoreboard easily.

But, she says, “I've gotten a lot better at squinting at the scoreboard, so I could kind of see that I had touched first. So, then I was really excited.”

It was then that Mac Neil's reaction was plain to see: “Oh my God,” she said in the pool.

And with that, Mac Neil had secured Canada's first gold medal of Tokyo 2020 with a remarkable swim, overtaking almost the entire field over the final 50 metres — she came out of the halfway turn in seventh place — for her second medal in as many days at the Tokyo Aquatic Centre. She was part of the 4 x 100-metre relay team that put Canada on the board with a silver medal on Sunday here.

Mac Neil, a world champion in the same race in 2019, was competing against a field that included the five fastest swimmers ever at that distance and discipline. Her time of 55:59 was good for third-best in Olympic history, and was ahead of China's Zhang Yufei (55:64) and Emma Mckeon of Australia (55.72). Sarah Sjostrom of Sweden, the reigning world record holder and Olympic champ, surprising­ly finished sixth.

Mac Neil said that, although the relay medal on Sunday might have raised expectatio­ns for the Canadian women back home, she tried to push the idea of a podium finish out of her head.

“It was more than I was hoping for at this point,” she said. “I was just trying to enjoy the experience and have fun, which I think I did today.”

She said she wasn't particular­ly aware of where she was at the turn, and how much water she had to make up. Her race, she said, is always about finishing strong.

“I'm not usually out fast,” she said, trying to get into a rhythm for the first lap that she described as smooth and strong.

“The second 50 (metres) is always the best for me,” Mac Neil said.

The Canadian women have quickly establishe­d themselves as one of Team Canada's powerhouse units. They took home six medals at Rio 2016, anchored by Penny Oleksiak with four, and already have three here in Tokyo — Kylie Masse won the third, a silver, on Tuesday — and relays still to come later in the week.

Mac Neil is the same age as Oleksiak, whose four-medal performanc­e in Rio was the stuff of Canadian legends. Five years later, she won a silver alongside her, and has now joined her on the exclusive list of Canadian Olympic gold medallists.

“I remember when Penny won gold and that was the first gold that Swimming Canada had in a very long time, so I was just happy to add to that legacy,” she said. Mac Neil said the team, which has been training intensely for the past eight months, is young enough to still have many big moments ahead of it.

“I don't think we've totally shown the world what we have yet,” she said.

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