2022 FINA WORLD AQUATICS CHAMPIONSHIPS
- June 18-25, 2022 (pool swimming)
- Budapest, Hungary
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Canadian swimmer Maggie MacNeil revealed through Instagram yesterday that she swam in the finals of the women’s 4×100 freestyle relay at the 2022 World Championships even though she had to deal with a back spasm.
According to Cleveland Clinic, a back spasm is when someone’s back muscles contract, tighten, or twitch against their will, which can cause back pain ranging from mild to severe.
Accomplished what we set out to do 🤩🥈 love swimming with these four (even through a back spasm) 🥰
MacNeil swam the third leg of the race, splitting 53.27. Her split was the 10th-fastest out of the 24 splits recorded by women swimming off of a rolling start. Alongside Taylor Ruck, Penny Oleksiak, and Kayla Sanchez, Canada won a silver medal in a time of 3:32.15 behind gold-medal winning Australia.
A back spasm is not the first injury that MacNeil had to deal with this year. At NCAAs this March, MacNeil slipped on deck and fractured her elbow, which limited her training to kicking-only for a few weeks following the incident. Despite this, she swill managed to finish third in both the 100 fly and 50 free that meet.
Even though MacNeil is the defending Olympic and World Champion in the 100 fly, she will only be swimming on relays during this year’s World Championships to prioritize her mental health. That means she will most likely be swimming buterfly on Canada’s women’s 4×100 medley relay later in the meet, and possibly on the mixed medley relay.
We are all here to support you Maggie!
Poll what’s worse:
1. Day after back spasm
2. Calf cramp
3. Foot Cramp
The more reason to have had Hinds to push her on the 3rd leg
You can’t swim or give your teammates a group hug through a back spasm, they’re like debilitating. She always seems to want an excuse or a reason to feel bad for her. Only unlikable Canadian.
Was feeling a plus one after the first sentence but was quickly pulled the opposite way on the last.
Are you playing????
Love Canadians(note I said only unlikable Canadian), think it’s awesome how successful their women’s program is. Just every story I’ve heard about Maggie and all the interviews I see of her she comes off horribly.
She said in a longer interview that she had the worst back spasm of her life the day before the relay. I think she probably just meant the whole experience and aftermath of a back spasm.
Are you going for the heisman trophy for armchair quarterbacks?
Perhaps your experiences with back spasms are different from mine, but if sleep awkwardly or twist my body at a weird angle, I’ll get minor spasms in certain positions. One of those is usually the pulling motion in freestyle. While it’s certainly not debilitating, it can be painful in the moment and is certainly not ideal for elite-level competition
At this pace she’s gonna get struck by lightning while on the blocks. At an indoor pool.
Hahahahaha – ya wish. She’ll recover nicely for 2024.
Mags
I say we start wrapping MacNeil in bubble wrap before the big meets. What a trooper!