London native and three-time Olympic medallist Maggie Mac Neil continues to be an unstoppable force in the pool.
The 21-year-old took gold and broke a world record in the women's 50-metre backstroke at the FINA World Swimming Championships in Abu Dhabi on Monday.
Mac Neil finished with a time of 25.27-seconds, snapping the previous record of 25.60-seconds set last year by Dutch swimmer Kira Toussaint. Mac Neil's Canadian teammate Kylie Masse came in second at this year's competition with a time of 25.62. She was followed by Sweden’s Louis Hansson who placed third with a time of 25.86.
Last week, Mac Neil anchored Canada's 4x50-metre mixed freestyle relay team, which claimed gold with a national record time of one minute and 28.55-seconds. She also was part of the women’s 4x50-metre medley relay, which placed fourth.
Mac Neil has been having a banner year, first claiming Canada’s first gold medal of the 2020 Tokyo Games in July. She swam 55.59-seconds to take first place in the 100-metre butterfly. It was the third-fastest time ever recorded in the sport at the Olympics. She also took two other medals at the games – silver in the 4x100-metre freestyle relay and bronze in the 4x100m medley relay.
The Londoner was named the Best Female Athlete of Tokyo 2020 by the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) in October.
