A year ago, it started becoming abundantly clear this was a special time for swimming in Canada. Last December in Abu Dhabi at the short course world championships, the Canadian team of 12 swimmers won 15 medals throughout the six days of competition while shattering previous records.
In fact, by the time the competition had wrapped up Canada was only behind the Americans in the medal standings. Those 15 medals, including seven gold, six silver and two bronze medals, nearly doubling the country's previous best of eight in 1999 and 2016.
Even more impressive, the 15 medals were more than the previous eight world short course championships combined. The Canadian women won more medals than any other country's women swimmers.
Maggie Mac Neil won five medals, including four gold. Kylie Masse became Canada's most decorated FINA swimmer while keeping her streak of winning a medal at an international meet alive for seven consecutive years and counting.