2021 NCAA WOMEN’S SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS
- When: Wednesday, March 17 – Saturday, March 20, 2021
- Where: Greensboro Aquatic Center / Greensboro, NC (Eastern Time Zone)
- Prelims 10 AM / Finals 6 PM (Local Time)
- Short course yards (SCY) format
- Defending champion: Stanford (3x) – 2019 results
- Streaming: ESPN3
- Championship Central
- Psych Sheets
- Live Results – Swimming
- Live Results – Diving
- Day 3 Prelims Recap
The 2021 NCAA Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships came alive on Friday night. After NC State’s U.S. Open, American, and NCAA Record on Thursday, Friday’s finals session woke up a number of fast swims, including Michigan’s Maggie MacNeil, winning the 100 fly in one of the best short course swims ever.
Her 48.89 broke the old NCAA and U.S. Open Records of 49.26, previously set by Louise Hansson of USC in 2019.
That swim was Michigan’s first ever NCAA event title in the 100 fly, and the 11th event title in program history. That moves them into a tie with North Carolina for the 11th-most by a school ever.
Below, watch MacNeil’s record-breaking swim. In the yellow cap, MacNeil is next to Virginia’s Kate Douglass in the video below. Douglass is a spectacular underwater swimmer in her own right, but off that final wall, MacNeil pulls away by what looks like more than a yard on the turn alone.
That shows why MacNeil, the defending World Champion in long course, is the favorite to win the Olympic gold medal this summer in Tokyo. She’s great underwater, she’s great above the water, and has now made a habit of winning.
Maggie. MacNeil.
That's it. That's the tweet. #GoBlue pic.twitter.com/YZel3xXja8
— Michigan Swimming & Diving (@umichswimdive) March 19, 2021
SUB 49!
This is the kind of stuff we live for
She crushed it!
I get a kick out of seeing her reactions after races. Judging by her glasses it seems like she doesn’t have the greatest vision so it takes her a while to see her time once getting to the wall. What is so great/special is that this allows for the camera to focus on her prior to her realization and capture the exact moment she sees her time. Congrats Maggie, what a record!
Un-believable! Maggie “Dressel” MacNeil… breaking through Fly barriers!! Go Blue!
Great swim, Maggie! So proud of you.
Wonderful swim!
This should motivate Sjöstrom to do **four** kicking workouts a day the next week!