A flash of Maggie Mac Neil’s competitive nature this past week served as a reminder of how she managed to orchestrate one of the most dominant — and surprising — performances of the year by a Canadian athlete.
She had just set the first world record of her career at the FINA short-course world swimming championships in Abu Dhabi, surprising even herself in the 50-metre backstroke — not the 100-metre butterfly, in which she’d won Olympic gold in Tokyo. She had set a time in training that was a couple of tenths off the world mark, then went out and broke it with a clocking of 25.27 seconds.
“I’ve actually been gunning for that time probably all year, since I started swimming metres again, after not having swum it for four years,” said the 21-year-old Mac Neil, who had been working with distances in yards as a student athlete at the University of Michigan.
Mac Neil has gone from the hunter to the hunted in her chosen sport in a matter of months.
In Tokyo this past summer, she won Canada’s first gold of the Games in the 100 butterfly, plus silver in the 4×100 freestyle relay and bronze in the 4×100 medley relay. In October, she learned — by email — that she had been named the top female athlete of the Games worldwide by the Association of National Olympic Committees. She had a week to plan a trip to Greece, birthplace of the Games, to accept the award during the pandemic.
And this past week she left Abu Dhabi with five medals, four gold and a silver. She is the first female swimmer ever to hold the Olympic, world long course, world short course and NCAA titles in the 100-metre butterfly.
“Competitive personalities are good most of the time. Occasionally they’re not, but for me it’s definitely the hallmark of my personality that has gotten me everywhere that I have been and everywhere that I’m going,” Mac Neil told the Star in an interview after her last swim at the short-course worlds.
But where can she go? It’s a tough act to follow.
“Honestly, I don’t think I have an answer … because I accomplished more this year, I accomplished everything in swimming,” she said. “I mean, as of (Monday) night, a world record, that was my thing that I had to cross off my bucket list.
“So, I think now it’s about taking the time off at Christmas and focusing my goals and being like, what do I want to achieve now? That’s the big question for me.”
As much as Mac Neil speaks with the competitive edge of an elite athlete, she also describes herself as “the biggest swim nerd” full of youthful enthusiasm. She’s looking forward to graduating from Michigan next spring with a degree in psychology.
Her focus in the pool next year will be the world championships, set for Japan in May, after which she expects to compete in Europe before the July Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England. Not exactly a post-graduation backpacking trip across the continent, but an adventure nonetheless.
A whirlwind year has brought change, including more demands on her time.
“Growing up, I’ve never liked change,” she said. “I always found that really hard for me. This year, everything has changed for me. I think I’ve learned to handle that better. Still needs some work, but it’s definitely getting there.”
Mac Neil plans to take time over the holidays with her family to reflect on what she has accomplished and learned, and figure out what she can use to improve.
“Just live in the moment and kind of bask in everything we accomplished,” she said.
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