Canadian swimmer Maggie McNeill won the silver medal in the 100-meter butterfly on Monday at the World Aquatics Championships.
Mac Neil of London, Ontario, completed the distance in 56.45 seconds. The Chinese Yufei Zhang achieved victory in 56.12 seconds, while the American Tory Husky finished the podium with a time of 56.61 seconds.
“Honestly, I am more satisfied with my arrangement than with my time,” McNeal said in a statement. Obviously, I wish I could swim faster. It’s something I have to improve for next year, but it’s always good to be back on the international stage.”
McNeal, 23, entered the competition as an Olympic champion.
“It’s my first World Championship gold medal,” Zhang said, calling competitors Mannell, McCune, and Husky “old friends.”
Zhang added that she changed her approach, backtracking for the first part of the race before “swimming as fast as I could for the last 50 metres.”
Last season, Mac Neil didn’t compete in any singles event at Worlds, focusing on her mental and physical health.
“I think it’s very important to be able to backtrack, and just being involved in relay events has given me a whole new perspective on the sport,” she said. Being able to come back, regain confidence and win my first Commonwealth Games gold medal was another big step for me. Overall, I’m very happy with the decisions I’ve made.
Other Canadian qualifications
In addition, Canadians Kylie Maas and Ingrid Willem qualified for the 100-meter backstroke final, which will be held on Tuesday night.
Masse of LaSalle, O., finished second in her semi-final heat, and was the fourth fastest in the world with a time of 59.06 seconds. Willem of Calgary was third in scoring at 59.35.
“I’m really looking forward to tomorrow,” said Maas, who amassed three medals at the 2022 World Championships, including a silver in the 100 backstroke.
American Regan Smith was fastest in the 100-meter backstroke, with a time of 58.33 seconds.
On the men’s side, Chen Haiyang dominated the 100m breaststroke from start to finish.
Chen took the gold medal just minutes before compatriot Zhang did the same in the women’s 100m butterfly. Having bested all other swimmers by more than a second in the semifinals, Chen left all of his competitors in his wake in the final.
There was a three-way tie for second place between American Nick Fink, Italian Nicolò Martinini and Dutchman Arno Cumming, who all scored 58.72.
Several notable absentees
However, this race was marred by the absence of many headlines.
Britain’s Adam Peaty, double Olympic champion and world distance record holder, is on vacation and conspicuous by his absence in Japan. He said in an interview that he took a break to “get his sanity back”.
Peaty is one of the best swimmers in his discipline and has 19 top 20 finishes in the 100m breaststroke. His record is 56.88 seconds.
In addition, Americans Kate Douglas and Alex Walsh, who are teammates at the University of Virginia, managed to achieve the women’s 200-meter IM (individual medley) double, ahead of China’s Yu Yiting. It was the first time that two American swimmers had accomplished this feat at World Aquatics.
16-year-old Canadian Summer McIntosh was the favorite in the event, but opted out due to a scheduling conflict. McIntosh settled for fourth in the 400m freestyle event on Sunday – and handed over her own world record to Australian Ariarn Titmus in the same time. McIntosh already holds the mark in the 400 IM, set earlier in 2023 at 4:25.87.
Italy’s Thomas Ciccone won the 50-meter butterfly, an event not part of the Olympic programme, in 22.68. He beat Portuguese Diogo Matos Ribeiro (22.80) and Frenchman Maxime Grosset (22.82) on the wall.
Many great butterfly specialists are absent from Fukuoka, including the American Caeleb Dressel and the Hungarian Kristof Milak. Dressel couldn’t make it to Team USA after a long layoff, while Melack said he was in poor shape — either physically or mentally.
