Swimming-Canada's MacNeil sets 50m backstroke short course world record

FILE PHOTO: Tokyo 2020 Olympics - Swimming - Women's 100m Butterfly - Heats - Tokyo Aquatics Centre - Tokyo, Japan - July 24, 2021. Maggie MacNeil of Canada in action REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach

(Reuters) - Canada's Maggie MacNeil set a short course world record in the women's 50 metres backstroke to win gold at the world championships in Abu Dhabi.

MacNeil, who won 100m butterfly gold at the Tokyo Olympics, clocked 25.27 to shave 0.33 seconds off Kira Toussaint's mark on Monday.

"If you would have told me my first world record would be backstroke, I wouldn't have believed you," MacNeil said. "But it's nice to get that out of way and hopefully tomorrow I also have something in the 100m fly as well."

Fellow Canadian Kylie Masse took silver, while Sweden's Louise Hansson bagged bronze.

(Reporting by Aadi Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford)

(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2021. Click For Restrictions -
https://agency.reuters.com/en/copyright.html