Canadian Olympic Champion Maggie MacNeil Announces Retirement At 24

Three-time Olympic medalist and eight-time world champion Maggie MacNeil is hanging up her goggles.

MacNeil, 24, announced her retirement from competitive swimming on Thursday, less than two months after representing Canada at her second straight Olympics in Paris.

I have always wondered what the moment would feel like, when I decide to hang up the cap and goggles.

Well, here it is. I am officially retiring from competitive swimming. The little girl above would have never dreamed this is where her love of swimming would take her.

I’ll keep it brief, but I am so grateful for all the memories, people, and places I have gotten to experience just through swimming. Anyone who I crossed paths with never, ever told me I couldn’t achieve my goal of going to the Olympics. It’s still surreal to be able to say I’m a 2xOlympian.

I’m excited to begin the next chapter of my life journey, as I embark on discovering who I am outside of swimming.

With love and gratitude for the years of endless support,

Maggie Mac Neil, OLY
🫶🏼🥹

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Maggie Mac Neil OLY, MSc (@macnmagg)

This past February, MacNeil had said that the 2024 Olympics would be her last, indicating that retirement was imminent, but she seemed to change her tune in April, saying “you definitely won’t see the last of me after Paris, that’s for sure.”

But the London Aquatic Club product who had a sensational NCAA career at the University of Michigan and LSU has called it quits for good.

MacNeil made her first impact on the international stage at the Junior Pan Pacific Championships, representing Canada in 2016 and then again in 2018, winning gold in the women’s 100 fly in the latter. In 2018, she qualified for the senior Pan Pac team but opted out prior to her freshman year at Michigan.

MacNeil’s senior international career exploded in 2019, as she upset world record holder Sarah Sjostrom for gold in the women’s 100 fly at the 2019 World Championships in Gwangju, adding a pair of bronze medals on the Canadian women’s 4×100 free and medley relays.

MacNeil then made her Olympic debut in Tokyo, claiming gold in an epic women’s 100 fly final that saw the top four finish within 14 one-hundredths of each other. MacNeil’s time of 55.59 was the third-fastest swim in history at the time and remains her lifetime best and Canadian Record to this day.

She won two more Olympic medals, a silver on the Canadian women’s 4×100 free relay and a bronze on the medley relay, in Tokyo.

In 2022, MacNeil opted out of racing individually at the World Championships, but still picked up three relay medals, and followed up later that summer by winning five medals at the Commonwealth Games, including gold in the 100 fly.

In declining to race individual events at the 2022 Worlds, MacNeil was outspoken about prioritizing her mental health and the difficulties she had coming off her Olympic success in 2021.

At the 2023 World Championships in Fukuoka, MacNeil claimed silver in the 100 fly and won bronze on the women’s 4×100 medley relay, giving her eight medals across three appearances at LC Worlds in her career.

During her second Olympic appearance this past summer in Paris, MacNeil placed 5th in the 100 fly, 16th in the 100 free (scratched the semis) and contributed on three Canadian relays that had a pair of fourth-place finishes (women’s 4×100 free, 4×100 medley) and a fifth (mixed 4×100 medley).

In addition to her success on the long course international stage, MacNeil has also proven to be one of the best short course swimmers in the world.

She owns 11 medals from the Short Course World Championships across two appearances in 2021 and 2022, including seven gold. She broke the world record in the women’s 50 back (25.27) at the 2021 SC Worlds in Abu Dhabi, and then at the 2022 edition in Melbourne, she re-broke that record (25.25) while also establishing a new mark in the 100 fly (54.05).

In 2021, when MacNeil won the short course world title in the 100 fly, she became the first female swimmer in history to hold the Olympic, LC World, SC World and NCAA titles simultaneously.

Her decorated NCAA career includes winning three individual national titles in the 50 free (2023), 100 free (2021) and 100 fly (2021) to go along with several top-three finishes individually. In March 2021, she became the first woman in history under the 49-second barrier in the 100 fly (48.89).

She is a 25-time CSCAA All-American, a 17-time Big Ten champion during her four years at Michigan, and became a five-time SEC champion during her graduate season at LSU. She left behind a lasting legacy despite only one season in Baton Rouge, including leading the Tiger women to their first SEC relay title since 1986.