Tokyo Olympics: Canada’s Maggie MacNeil pips China’s Zhang Yufei to gold in 100m butterfly epic
- Just 0.14 seconds between first and fourth as US teen sensation misses Tokyo podium by 0.01 seconds
- World champion, who was born in China, becomes first Canadian to win gold in event, setting Americas record
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Canada’s Maggie MacNeil beat China’s Zhang Yufei in an epic women’s 100m butterfly final to bring home her country’s first gold in Tokyo.
MacNeil did not know she had won what was a hard-fought race for the wall, with just 0.14 seconds between her and US teen Torri Huske in fourth place.
The world champion added Olympic gold to her CV touching home in 55.59 to beat Zhang by just 0.05 seconds.
Zhang had been the fastest across the semi-finals and, along with Australia’s Emma McKeon, one of the only two swimmers to have gone sub-56 seconds in the Tokyo pool before the final.
McKeon did it again for bronze, finishing in 55.72 for an Oceania record. There was heartbreak for Huske who missed out on the podium by just 0.01 seconds.