Tokyo Olympics 2021: Emma McKeon wins bronze in the 100m butterfly final

Emma McKeon latest win in the pool has seen her edge closer to her dream of taking home seven medals, and another Aussie’s “incredible” swim has fired her up.

Australia's Emma McKeon has won bronze in the Women's 100m Butterfly final at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre. Picture: Getty Images

Olympic bronze medallist Emma McKeon will use the “incredible’’ swim of her teammate Ariarne Titmus to fire up her own dreams of winning a record making seven-medal tally at the Tokyo Olympics.

On Monday, McKeon won a bronze medal in one of the toughest events on the Tokyo Olympic program, the 100m butterfly, as reigning world champion Canadian student Maggie

MacNeil - who had come into the meet as an underdog, was able to sneak past the entire field.

McKeon just concentrated on keeping her head down in the final butterfly strokes and the 27 year old touched out US swimmer Torri Huske for the bronze medal by a mere one-hundredth of a second.

It was Mckeon’s personal best for the event.

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Silver medallist Yufei Zhang of Team China, gold medallist Margaret Macneil of Team Canada and bronze medallist Emma McKeon of Team Australia. Picture: Getty Images

Emma McKeon after receiving her bronze medal. Picture: Adam Head

She said: “I’m pretty happy - I couldn’t ask for more, it was the best time I ever swam. I was just focused on my process and skills and how I wanted to swim it.

“Maggie swam an amazing time — 5.5 is only 0.1 away from the Olympic record.

MacNeil, who swims for the University of Michigan relocated back to her Canadian hometown for several months this year because of coronavirus border closures. She has quite a reputation for her upsets in the biggest races and at these Olympics claimed the scalp of one of the pandemic prodigies, Zhang Yufei, who broke into the top ranks during the Chinese trials in October 2020.

McKeon said she was “pretty pleased” by her bronze result in the 100m butterfly. Picture: Adam Head

USA's Torri Huske (L), third-placed Australia's Emma McKeon (R) and second-placed China's Zhang Yufei. Picture: AFP

In the 2019 world champions MacNeil had upset the four time world and reigning Olympic champion Sarah Sjostrom.

“The second 50 is always my sweet spot,’’ said MacNeil, who admits to being such a meticulous planner she likes to know what she is doing in two year’s time.

Zhang said she saw McKeon out of the corner of her eye and felt the other swimmers bearing down upon her. She was “very happy’’ to have won the silver in such a close finish.

For McKeon she is now two down, five to go in her stunning quest for a record seven medal haul at these Games.

Her impressive bronze achievement also means she is now among the top 10 fastest 100m butterfly performers of all time.

4 of the 10 fastest performances of all time in the final of the women’s 100 fly in Tokyo, what a race! pic.twitter.com/PU3NUIiJdy

— Swimming Stats (@SwimmingStats) July 26, 2021

On Sunday night McKeon blitzed her relay leg as part of the record breaking 4x100m freestyle team.

On Monday when McKeon had received her butterfly bronze medal and heading for media interviews, she was able to sneak a peek at Titmus’s epic showdown with Katie Ledecky in the 400m freestyle.

McKeon tries to keep her emotions in check - even striding to the blocks for her own races head down and without a wave to the crowd, but she was thrilled for Titmus’s win.

“It was incredible, I saw the last 200m after my race and to watch her come home like that, it gave me goosebumps.

“I couldn’t be more happy for her.”