 Maggie Mac Neil is going for a Canadian-record 5th gold at the Pan Am Games | | | We've sent the newsletter out a bit earlier today to make you aware of a potential record-breaking race for a star Canadian swimmer that you can watch live this afternoon.
Yesterday in Chile, Maggie Mac Neil captured her fourth gold medal of the Pan American Games by tying Gabi Albiero of the United States for the victory in the women's 50-metre freestyle event. That gave the 23-year-old from London, Ont., a share of the record for most gold medals by a Canadian at a single Pan Am Games, alongside swimmer Jessica Deglau (1999), table tennis player Lijuan Geng (1995) and gymnast Ernestine Russell-Carter (1959). It was also Mac Neil's sixth medal of any kind at these Games, putting her within two of the Canadian record set by gymnast Willie Weiler in 1963.
Mac Neil won't catch Weiler, but there's a good chance she breaks the Canadian single-Games gold record today as swimming competition wraps up in Santiago. Mac Neil is expected to be part of the Canadian women's 4x100m medley relay team that will race for a medal at 4:43 p.m. ET after four other swimmers posted the fastest qualifying time in this morning's heats. Watch the final live here or on CBC Gem.
With 17-year-old phenom Summer McIntosh and three-time backstroke world champion Kylie Masse both skipping the Pan Am Games and seven-time Olympic medallist Penny Oleksiak still making her way back from knee and shoulder injuries, Mac Neil is easily Canada's top swimmer in Chile. And she's performed like it, winning gold in all three of her individual events — the 50 and 100m freestyle and the 100m butterfly — while earning a medal of each colour in relays in her Pan Ams debut.
The 100m butterfly is Mac Neil's signature event. After winning the world title in 2019, she captured Olympic gold in 2021 in Tokyo, where she was Canada's only swimming gold medallist and also contributed to both of the country's relay medals. In need of a mental and physical break the following year, Mac Neil elected not to defend her butterfly title at the world championships in Hungary. But she still helped Canada to three relay medals there before returning to solo competition at this year's worlds in Japan and taking silver in the 100m butterfly along with a relay medal.
That brought Mac Neil's career medal count at the world championships to eight — one shy of the Canadian record shared by Oleksiak and Masse — along with her three Olympic podiums. Mac Neil also won five medals at last year's Commonwealth Games, including gold in the 100m butterfly, and captured multiple NCAA titles at Michigan and LSU, where she concluded her collegiate career last March after transferring.
Despite her being quite a bit less famous than Oleksiak and McIntosh, who is poised for stardom at next summer's Paris Olympics, Mac Neil's resumé speaks for itself: she is unquestionably one of the best Canadian swimmers of all time. And, clearly, she's not done yet.
Other notes from the Pan Am Games:
Canada opened Day 6 with a pair of doubles badminton gold medals this morning. Catherine Choi and Josephine Wu won the women's event and Adam Dong and Nyl Yakura took the men's. Wu and Ty Lineman have a chance to make it a Canadian doubles sweep in the mixed final at 2:20 p.m. ET, while Canada's Brian Yang was going for gold in the men's singles final at 1:40 p.m. ET.
Other top Canadians competing for medals today include swimmers Mary-Sophie Harvey and Sydney Pickrem, who are both going for their second individual gold of the Games in the women's 200m individual medley final at 3:29 p.m. ET. Also trying to win another medal are divers Nathan Zsombor-Murray (men's 10m final at 7:40 p.m. ET) and Pamela Ware and Mia Vallée (women's 3m synchro final at 6 p.m. ET). Ware has already won gold in the 1m and 3m solo events. Gymnast Felix Dolci, who on Monday became the first Canadian in 60 years to win the men's all-around title at the Pan Ams, competes in the vault final at 4 p.m. ET.
At our publish time, Canada's medal count was up to 62, including 22 gold. That was good for third place in the standings, behind the United States and Mexico.
How to watch:
Four different channels of live Pan Am Games action are available to stream all day, every day on CBCSports.ca, the CBC Sports app and CBC Gem. You can find them here.
Each weekday at 6 p.m. ET on those streaming platforms, CBC Sports' Anastasia Bucsis hosts a show featuring live events and highlights with a focus on Canadian athletes.
The CBC TV network will have additional coverage on Saturday and Sunday afternoons throughout the Games, hosted by Scott Russell and Andi Petrillo.
See the full streaming and broadcast schedules here. | | |  | With one race left, Canada's Maggie Mac Neil has won four gold medals and six total at the Pan Am Games in Chile. (Mauro Pimentel/AFP via Getty Images) | | | Quickly… | | | An uncertain Raptors season tips off tonight.
Heading into its season opener against the visiting Minnesota Timberwolves, no one seems to know quite where Canada's NBA team is going.
Before last year's trade deadline, struggling Toronto was rumoured to be mulling offers for leading scorer Pascal Siakam, valuable forward OG Anunoby and free-agent-to-be Fred VanVleet. Instead, team president Masai Ujiri and GM Bobby Webster kept the band together and added veteran centre Jakob Poeltl for a run to the play-in tournament. But the Raptors lost in the first round to Chicago, head coach Nick Nurse quit (and ended up in Philadelphia), VanVleet bolted to Houston in free agency and the front office didn't do much to shake up the roster. Toronto's most notable off-season acquisitions were Dennis Schröder, a journeyman point guard who went on to win MVP of the Basketball World Cup for Germany; and new head coach Darko Rajakovic, a former Memphis Grizzlies assistant.
In a league where most teams seem to be either rebuilding or going all in for a championship, the Raptors appear to be caught in a kind of purgatory. If Ujiri opts to tear it down, he could rebuild around 2021-22 Rookie of the Year Scottie Barnes by trading away Siakam, Anunoby and/or Gary Trent Jr., who can all become free agents this summer. Or he could keep them and hope Rajakovic rejuvenates a team that seemed to grow tired of Nurse's messaging. Either way, it feels like a path should be chosen soon.
Read more about the Raptors' outlook for this season here. If you missed yesterday's newsletter, read our look at the Canadian NBA players to watch this season here. | | | And finally... | | | Who saw this World Series coming?
A few days ago, a rematch between Houston and Philadelphia seemed to be in the offing as each team took a 3-2 lead in its respective league championship series. But the Texas Rangers came back to stun the defending World Series champion Astros before the Arizona Diamondbacks shocked the Phillies in Game 7 last night.
That sets up an unlikely, all-wild-card World Series starting Friday night in Texas. The Rangers entered the playoffs as the No. 5 seed in the American League after blowing the AL West to Houston by losing four of six to close the regular season. The Diamondbacks were below .500 in mid-August and lost their final four games to squeak in at 84-78 — tied for the worst record in the 12-team playoffs. | | | Share this newsletter | | or subscribe if this was
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