Maggie MacNeil Breaks Commonwealth Games Record in the 100 Fly

2022 COMMONWEALTH GAMES

In spite of an injury that hit earlier this summer, Canadian swimmer Maggie MacNeil still managed to pull off a win and a Commonwealth Games Record in her first individual final at this week’s Commonwealth Games.

Swimming on Friday evening, the Canadian swam a 56.36. That was under the old Meet Record of 56.78 that was set by Emma McKeon in 2018. McKeon, who took a long break (and reportedly pondered retirement) after Tokyo, was 2nd on Friday in 56.38 – also better than her old record.

MacNeil’s win was Canada’s fourth gold medal in the event all-time: Katerine Savard won in 2014, Wendy Quirk won in 1978, and Patti Stenhouse won in 1974. Canadians medaled in each of the first four years in which this event was offered at the Commonwealth Games from 1970 through 1982, and Elaine “Mighty Mouse” Turner also won the last 110 yard butterfly event in 1966.

Splits Comparisons:

Emma McKeon Emma McKeon Maggie MacNeil MacNeil’s PB
2022 #2 Time Former CGs Record New CGs Record Tokyo 2020
50m 26.41 26.36 26.53 26.50
100m 29.97 30.42 29.83 29.09
Final Time 56.38 56.78 56.36 55.59

The splits show that MacNeil, in spite of the win, still might not have her endurance fully back after fracturing her elbow earlier this year. The injury occurred at the NCAA Championships in March, when she slipped on the pool deck. She pushed through Canadian Trials in April, but decided to only swim relays at the World Championships.

She added individual events back to her lineup for these Commonwealth Games, though still not the full schedule she might have swum otherwise. She has remaining entries in the 50 back and 50 fly, though she won’t swim any individual freestyle races. She split 53.51 on the anchor leg of Canada’s bronze medal winning mixed 400 free relay on Thursday, so now has two medals at these Games already.

MacNeil now has gold medals in the 100 fly at the Commonwealth Games, World Championships in long course and short course, and Olympic Games. The only remaining major international meets that Canada competes in where she hasn’t won gold are the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships and the Pan American Games. She could take a shot at the Pan American Games next year, but the next Pan Pac Championships won’t be until at least 2026.

MacNeil, the defending Olympic Champion in the 100 fly, finished her undergraduate degree, and initial four seasons of collegiate eligibility, at Michigan in the spring. She originally committed to transfer to Cal for her fifth and final year of eligibility, but after Cal head coach Teri McKeever was placed on a leave of absence, MacNeil decided to rejoin her former coach Rick Bishop at LSU next season.

In This Story

1
Leave a Reply

Subscribe
Notify of

1 Comment
newest
oldest most voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Ian
1 year ago

You seem to be a day off. The mixed relay was Friday evening and the 100m butterfly win was Saturday evening.

Also, Macneil now has 3 medals as she won bronze as part of the women’s 4x100m Freestyle Relay on Saturday evening.

Last edited 1 year ago by Ian

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

Read More »