Canadian swimmer Maggie Mac Neil squeezes way into Olympic 100m freestyle semifinals

Maggie Mac Neil, a 2023 Pan Am champion in the women's 100 freestyle, barely found her way into Tuesday's Olympic semifinals.

The London, Ont., native was the last of 16 qualifiers, placing fourth in her preliminary heat in 54.16 seconds, more than a second behind winner and world record holder Sarah Sjoestroem (52.99).

Mac Neil finished 50-100ths of a second ahead of Barbora Seemanova of the Czech Republic to book a spot in the 3:25 p.m. ET semifinals at La Defense Arena in Nanterre, France.

The 24-year-old Mac Neil did not race the 100 free in her 2021 Olympic debut in Tokyo but was a member of the 100 free relay team that won at last year's Pan Am Games and earned 2022 Commonwealth Games bronze.

On Sunday, she missed a chance to become the first repeat Olympic gold medallist in the women's 100 butterfly, placing fifth.

WATCH l Mac Neil 5th place in women's 100m butterfly:

Mac Neil also plans to race the women's 100 medley relay in Paris on Saturday.

She told CBC Sports in February this would be her final Olympic Games. Mac Neil had planned to leave competitive swimming after Tokyo but felt she missed opportunities in the pool during the COVID-19 pandemic and opted to extend her career.

Montreal's Ilya Kharun surged over the final 50 metres of the men's 200 butterfly to win the second of four heats in one minute 54.06 seconds.

The 19-year-old touched the wall more than a second faster than his closest competitor, Poland's Michal Chmielewski (1:55.28).

"He had complete control [of the race] and that is what you want to do in a preliminary," said CBC Sports analyst Brittany MacLean. "Athletes sometimes need to [shake the] cobwebs through that first race but he attacked it."

Kharun, in his first Olympic appearance,