London swim star Maggie Mac Neil eyes Olympic history at Paris Games

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Never underestimate Maggie Mac Neil.

She won’t garner the Canadian swim spotlight of Summer McIntosh at the Olympics in Paris. But she aims to become the first woman to defend the 100-metre butterfly gold medal and wants to do it in headline-grabbing fashion.

The women’s 100 fly is already shaping up to be one of the most highly anticipated races at the Games. That was even before American Gretchen Walsh broke the world record at the recent U.S. swim trials with a 55.18-second performance.

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“She put up an incredible time and now, a lot of the focus has turned to her and what she can do,” Mac Neil, the 24-year-old Londoner, said. “We’ve seen the Chinese team, as well, and (American) Torri Huskie put up a great time and the Aussies doing their thing as always.

“The less attention on me heading into this race is going to be better for me because I’ve always thrived more as the underdog.”

Mac Neil has long proven she rises to the occasion when it matters most. She won the Olympic title three years ago in Tokyo in 55.59 – which remains the fourth-best time in history.

She owns the short-course world record (54.05 at Melbourne, Australia in 2022) and would like to add the long-course mark to her list of accomplishments as she starts winding down her career.

“With everyone stepping up, I knew someone was going to break that record eventually,” she said. “We’ve all been knocking on the door for a while now. Having that focus on what the Americans, Aussies and other people have done and with it not just being about me going in as reigning champ will hopefully help me in Paris.”

NEW APPROACH

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This has been a much different journey to the Games than the lead-up to Tokyo – and some bumps along the way. For one, she doesn’t feel like there were as many racing opportunities this time against top tier competition compared to three years ago.

“You have American trials in there (which she isn’t eligible for as a Canadian) and there was a meet in Italy that Penny (Oleksiak) went to,” said Mac Neil, who is based in Baton Rouge, La., after finishing her collegiate swimming days at Louisiana State. “I thought about doing that one but I didn’t want to go to Europe, come back and have to go back two-and-a-half weeks later.”

One of the biggest challenges was the moving of the Canadian trials – normally beginning of April – to the start of May in Markham to accommodate the NCAA championships. Since Mac Neil was no longer competing at the U.S. college level, the trials obligation cut out more options for her to head overseas for tune-up races.

She wondered if a better approach would have been, like Tokyo, for Canada to pre-select some of its top swimmers.

“Honestly, that would be a great thing,” she said. “That was done in the situation we were in with Covid and everything at the time, but it really helped us to not have to focus on trials and we were able to train through that period (in 2021). We would probably have to go race at that (trials) meet anyway, but it would be nice to have that (Olympic spot) assured and jet off to Europe or wherever we had to go to get that extra racing.”

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“It’s great trials were moved later for NCAAs and to give people more time to prepare but also negatively impacted the racing opportunities we have because of all the global meets that are happening (around the same time). I think I raced more going into Tokyo with being still in college (at Michigan) than I did this time.”

LONG-DISTANCE COACHING

Mac Neil also spoke out social media in May about concern that her long-time personal coach Rick Bishop, who oversaw her development at Michigan and LSU, would not be in Paris. After an opportunity with Hong Kong fell through, she called on Swimming Canada to help despite the organization’s standing rule requiring coaches to live and work in Canada to be named to the national team staff.

That rule had been ignored to accommodate Summer McIntosh’s personal coach. It’s all water under the bridge, according to Mac Neil.

“Swimming Canada came up with a great solution,” she said, “but he had some personal things come up that made the timing not great. It kind of sucks for me but I’ve been to other meets without him before. I’ll definitely be calling him lots and talking to him.

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“I think it will work out just fine.”

Mac Neil, who won a medal of every colour in Tokyo, will also swim in the medley relay for Canada while the freestyle and mixed medley relays remain up in the air.

“They can make decisions on that right up to the last day,” she said. “Last year (at worlds) in Fukuoka, Japan, I was told seven hours before I was doing the relay the next morning. It’s not super locked-in and I’m hoping Swimming Canada will be a little bit more pro-active than they have been on telling me and relay members when you’re swimming, what your role looks like and what they envision you doing.”

TEAMING UP

She is fiercely proud of being part of a Canadian team expecting to do great things in the Paris pool.

“I think it has come a long way in the last few years,” she said. “It’s great the work Summer, Josh Liendo and Kylie Masse and all the vets have been doing for Canada. Focusing on swimming in general has been great, but also remembering you need a bunch of athletes to make a team – not just one or a couple of standouts.

“We have a really strong group. The men’s team has stepped up, so I think there’s a lot more from them. It’s not even just the women anymore.”

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QUEST FOR GOLD

Mac Neil may consider herself an underdog but she has been the face of several pre-Olympic marketing campaigns in the lead-up to Paris. She has received funding for the past six years from the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation’s ‘Quest for Gold’ to help offset training and living expenses.

The new campaign, revealed Monday, highlights athletes like Mac Neil, sprinter Andre De Grasse, Oleksiak and hammer thrower Jillian Weir.

“I’m excited about OLG,” Mac Neil said. “It’s my newest sponsor and the concept is exciting and something different. I want to thank OLG players and all Ontarians for everything they’ve done to support me. The profits are re-invested back into Ontario and to support amateur athletics and I’m always so proud to come from London and this province.

“When my swimming career ends, I’m excited to come back home and settle down in Ontario, for sure.”

To date, Quest for Gold has contributed over $151 million to support Ontario’s top amateur athletes, with OLG funneling more than $110 million to the program.

rpyette@postmedia.com
@RyanatLFPress

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