Canadian swimmer Maggie Mac Neil won the silver medal in the 100m butterfly on Monday at the World Aquatic Championships.
Mac Neil of London, Ont., completed the distance in 56.45 seconds. Chinese Yufei Zhang triumphed in 56.12 seconds, while American Torri Huske completed the podium in 56.61.
“Honestly, I’m more satisfied with my ranking than my time,” Mac Neil said in a statement. Obviously, I was hoping to swim faster. It’s something I will have to improve for next year, but it’s always good to be back on the international stage.”
Mac Neil, who is 23, entered the competition as the reigning Olympic champion.
“It’s my first gold medal at the World Championships,” said Zhang, who described rivals Man Neil, McKeon and Huske as “old friends.”
Zhang added that she changed her approach, holding back in the first part of the race before “swimming as fast as possible for the last 50 meters”.
Last season, Mac Neil did not take part in any individual event at the Worlds, as she focused on her mental and physical health.
“I think it’s very important to be able to take a step back, and having only taken part in the relay events gave 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. In general, I’m very happy with the decisions I’ve made.”
Other Canadian qualifications
In addition, Canadians Kylie Masse and Ingrid Wilm have qualified for the 100m backstroke final, which will take place on Tuesday evening.
Masse, of LaSalle, Ont., was second in her heat in the semifinals and was fourth fastest overall with a time of 59.06 seconds. Wilm of Calgary was third in his heat clocking 59.35.
“I’m really looking forward to tomorrow,” said Masse, who collected three medals at the 2022 Worlds, including a silver in the 100 backstroke.
American Regan Smith was the fastest in the 100m backstroke with a time of 58.33 seconds.
On the men’s side, Qin Haiyang dominated the 100m breaststroke from start to finish.
Qin clinched the gold medal just minutes before her compatriot Zhang did the same in the women’s 100m butterfly. After outscoring all other swimmers by more than a second in the semifinals, Qin left all his rivals in his wake in the final.
There was a triple tie for second place between American Nic Fink, Italian Nicolo Martinenghi and Dutchman Arno Kamming, who all clocked 58.72.
Several notable absentees
This race, however, was clouded by the absence of several headliners.
Briton Adam Peaty, the double Olympic champion and world record holder in the distance, is on sabbatical 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 of the top 20 times in the 100m breaststroke. His record is 56.88 seconds.
In addition, the Americans Kate Douglass and Alex Walsh, who are teammates at the University of Virginia, managed the double in the women’s 200 m IM (individual medley), ahead of the Chinese Yu Yiting. It was the first time that two American swimmers had accomplished this feat at the World Aquatics.
16-year-old Canadian Summer McIntosh would have been the favorite in this event, but she opted out of it due to a scheduling conflict. McIntosh settled for fourth in the 400m freestyle on Sunday — she ceded her world record to Australian Ariarne Titmus at the same time. McIntosh already holds the mark in the 400 IM, set earlier in 2023 at 4:25.87.
Italian Thomas Ceccon won the 50m butterfly, an event that is not part of the Olympic programme, in 22.68. He beat the Portuguese Diogo Matos Ribeiro (22.80) and the French Maxime Grousset (22.82) on the wall.
Several great butterfly specialists are absent in Fukuoka, including the American Caeleb Dressel and the Hungarian Kristof Milak. Dressel was unable to make it to Team USA after taking a long hiatus, while Milak said he was in poor shape — physically or mentally.