SANTIAGO, Chile – Maggie Mac Neil continued to etch her name in the record books and rookie Julie Brousseau added a historic medal for Canadian swimming Tuesday at the Pan American Games.
Mac Neil made it a clean sweep of her individual events, tying for gold in the women’s 50-m freestyle. Mac Neil and American Gabi Albiero both stopped the clock in 24.84 to share the top step of the podium.
“I’m happy that I could tie for the win. It’s still new swimming freestyle for me internationally,” said the 23-year-old London Aquatic Club product known for her butterfly and great underwater kicking off the turns. “The good thing is this is obviously one of my weaker events, I really miss having that extra wall. So I’m really happy with that.”
That gives Mac Neil four gold medals (100 butterfly, 100 freestyle, 4×100 freestyle relay) to tie the record for most golds by a Canadian swimmer at Pan Am Games set by Jessica Deglau in 1999. Only two other Canadian athletes across all sports (Lijuan Geng, table tennis, 1995; Ernestine Russell-Carter, artistic gymnastics, 1959) have won four gold at a Pan Am Games.
With six total medals so far (4 gold, 1 silver, 1 bronze), Mac Neil matches the all-time single-Games high held by four other Canadian swimmers (Deglau, 1999; Marianne Limpert/Joanne Malar, 1995; Ralph Hutton 1967).
Brousseau, who is making her senior national team debut, followed up by taking the women’s 400-m individual medley. Brousseau moved into the lead at the 150-m mark. American Lucerne Bell got as close as 0.14 seconds on the final turn and the pair were neck-and-neck heading into the final 25 metres before Brousseau found just enough for the win. Her time of 4:43.76 was 0.51 ahead of Bell’s 4:44.27.
“It was pretty close so I really had to keep pushing to try to race,” said the 17-year-old from Ottawa’s Nepean Kanata Barracudas. “To be able to actually do it is pretty cool especially at a meet like this.”
Brousseau’s gold increased Canada’s total to eight, matching the gold medal haul from the Toronto 2015 Games. It’s the most golds the country has ever won in swimming at a Pan Ams held outside Canada. Only the Winnipeg 1999 team (13) won more.
Canada added a silver and two bronze for a five-medal day bringing the four-day total to an even 20 (8 gold, 5 silver, 7 bronze) heading into the finale of the five-day meet Wednesday.
On the men’s side Collyn Gagne of Simon Fraser Aquatics took silver in the 400 IM in a time of 4:17.05.
“It’s pretty good to get my first international medal,” said the 22-year-old from Milton, Ont., who made his senior national team debut last year. “I would have liked to have a best time but I wasn’t too far away (4:16.08) so just being October I think that’s pretty good.”
Calgary’s Benjamin Cote finished seventh in 4:23.14, matching his personal best from this year’s Canadian Swimming Trials.
Brousseau walked straight from receiving her gold medal into the ready room for the women’s 4×200-m freestyle relay. The team of Mary-Sophie Harvey, Brousseau, Brooklyn Douthwright and Katerine Savard took bronze in a time of 7:56.98. Preliminary swimmers Emma O’Croinin and Sydney Pickrem also receive medals.
The men’s 4×200 followed up by adding bronze in the last race of the night. Jeremy Bagshaw, Finlay Knox, Alex Axon and Javier Acevedo combined for a time of 7:14.76. Preliminary swimmers Yu Tong Wu, Blake Tierney and Raben Dommann also receive medals.
Mac Neil will have a shot at the all-time medal record in the women’s 4×100 medley relay on the final day. Meanwhile, Sydney Pickrem and Mary-Sophie Harvey, who already have 200 breaststroke and 200 freestyle gold to their name, enter as the 1-2 seeds in the women’s 200 IM, while Finlay Knox is top seed in the men’s.
CBC Sports is streaming on multiple channels each day on CBCSports.ca, the CBC Sports app and CBC Gem. Those platforms will also carry a live show weekdays starting at 6 p.m. ET, hosted by Anastasia Bucsis and featuring a mix of live events and highlights with a focus on Canadian athletes.