Canadian swimming star Maggie Mac Neil prioritizing mental health ahead of upcoming worlds

Canadian Olympic champion and international swimming star Maggie Mac Neil is putting her mental health first in an attempt to bring a little more balance and calm to her life and swimming career.

In an exclusive interview with CBC Sports, one of Canada's most decorated swimmers explained she will not be competing in any individual events at the upcoming world championships this summer in Budapest, citing anxiety and pressure to succeed as something that's been pushing down on her and making it difficult to compete.

"I always thought I was invincible. I was completely normal and fine in high school and most of college. But I think this year was a little more difficult for me," Mac Neil explained, speaking at Canadian swimming trials in Victoria, B.C.

In February, Mac Neil approached Swimming Canada's High Performance Director John Atkinson and shared some of her concerns over expectations for her.

Mac Neil explains it was during that meeting the two came up with a plan to sit out the individual events during worlds and focus solely on relays.

"It's hard to stay at the top and that pressure really got to me. I need a chill summer. I don't want to be out of international competition. I want to train and compete well for Canada but I needed that little bit of a let up I guess," Mac Neil said.

"Your mental and physical health comes before you as an athlete. So they [Swimming Canada] definitely have been thinking of us as a person first which is so important. I'm grateful for that."

Atkinson says he was equally grateful for Mac Neil coming forward with her concerns and gladly spent the time with her mapping out what the next number of months look like.

"We always will be receptive to our athletes and supportive. At the end of the day, the athlete as people comes first. The athletes have their own thoughts and aspirations. And our aspirations pretty much match theirs and you have to work with them to get there," Atkinson said.

Atkinson says he believes that the individual approach to each athlete's needs is allowing Canadian swimmers to excel in the pool.

"What counts is how the athlete is now and how they get to Paris and motivated for the next Olympics," he said.

"You have to treat every athlete as an individual. We don't have hard set rules. We'll work with each athlete on what they need and how we can help."

Mac Neil has been nothing short of remarkable in the pool over the last number of years. The 22-year-old from London, Ont., has won just about everything there is to win in swimming.

In Tokyo, she won a medal of every colour including Olympic gold in her specialty event the 100-metre butterfly. She followed that up with four gold and a silver at the 2021 short-course world swimming championships in Abu Dhabi.