Swimming Canada - It’s arguably the most iconic photo from the Gwangju 2019 FINA World Championships.

Three of the world’s fastest swimmers stand side-by-side after receiving their medals in the women’s 100-m butterfly. They’re showing the cameras their hands, on which they’ve written encouraging messages to Japan’s Rikako Ikee, who was unable to compete due to her battle with leukemia.

On the left stands Australian veteran Emma McKeon, a four-time Olympic medallist. On the right, Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom, three-time world champion and reigning Olympic champ in the distance. In between, with a gold medal shining around her neck and an almost stunned smile on her face, is a young woman who shocked them both – and most of the swimming world in the process – to become world champion.

For her performances in Gwangju, Margaret MacNeil of London, Ontario, is being named the first-ever recipient of Swimming Canada’s Breakout Swimmer of the Year Award. But how did she end up in the centre of that photo at 19 years old?

For more on Maggie MacNeil’s story, visit: https://www.swimming.ca/en/news/2019/12/03/from-unknown-to-world-champ-macneil-is-breakout-swimmer-of-the-year/