PARIS – Maggie Mac Neil swam the fastest first 50 metres of her career but the Olympic champion finished fifth in the women’s 100-m butterfly at the Paris Games Sunday.
Mac Neil was in medal contention after swimming the opening half of the race in 25.94 seconds but finished fifth in 56.44 seconds.
“It’s hard to do it once and to do it again, even harder,” said the London, Ont., native who trains at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, La.
“The last couple of months I’ve been telling myself I have nothing to prove to anyone, myself or anyone else.”
In other races, Mary-Sophie Harvey of Trois-Rivieres, Que., swam the eighth fastest time in the semifinals to advance to Monday’s final of the 200-m freestyle.
Saskatoon’s Blake Tierney was 16th in the semifinal of the 100-m backstroke.
Mac Neil’s parents were among the loud crowd jammed into the Paris La Défense Arena for the second night of Olympic swimming.
The 24-year-old, who won Canada’s first gold medal at the Tokyo 2020 Games, was hoping to become the first woman to repeat as the Olympic women’s 100 fly champion.
Americans took the gold and silver. Torri Huske won the race in 55.59 seconds with Gretchen Walsh .04 behind. China’s Yufei Zhang was third in 56.21.
Overall, Mac Neil was satisfied with her race.
“I think I went out a bit fast,” she said. “It’s really hard sometimes not to get caught up in what other people are doing.
“The first 50 is something I have really been really working on this year. It’s good to see that has come along. I’m just working on trying to get that second 50 back to where it used to be.”
Harvey, who trains at CAMO with coach Greg Arkhurst, advanced to the final with a time of 1:56.37. She was second in the morning heats in 1:56.21.
She expects to go faster in Monday’s final.
“I know I can improve a lot,” said Harvey. “I think it’s been the cumulative past few years of training and now it’s starting to show. It’s not something that happens overnight.”
Australian world record holder Ariarne Titmus had the fastest semifinal time of 1:54.64 followed by teammate Mollie O’Callaghan in 1:54.70. American Claire Weinstein was third in 1:55.24.
Tierney, a Saskatoon native who trains with Scott Talbot at the High Performance Centre – Vancouver, swam 53.71 in the semifinals.
Toronto teenager Summer McIntosh won her first Olympic medal and Canada’s first podium of the Games by collecting a silver medal in the 400-metre freestyle during Saturday’s opening day of competition.
The 17-year-old from Toronto is scheduled to swim three more individual events beginning with the 400-m individual medley Monday, in which she holds the world record. Meanwhile Kylie Masse of LaSalle, Ont., a two-time medallist in the event, takes to the water for the 100-m backstroke along with world medallist Ingrid Wilm of Calgary’s Cascade Swim Club.
Full results: https://olympics.com/en/paris-2024/schedule/swimming?day=undefined
CBC/Radio-Canada is the exclusive Canadian broadcast and streaming home of the Games. In English, CBC’s comprehensive coverage of Paris 2024 will feature live broadcasts on CBC and partner networks TSN and Sportsnet, CBC Gem, CBC’s Paris 2024 website and the CBC Paris 2024 app for Android and iOS devices. ICI TÉLÉ, ICI TOU.TV and RDS will offer daily French coverage to follow the decisive moments and medals won by Canadian athletes.
The swimming competition runs through Aug. 4.