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After nightmarish 2015, Brittany MacLean turning her swimming nationals into Olympic pool of dreams

Canada's Brittany MacLean poses with with her bronze medal in the women's 800m Freestyle at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland, July 28, 2014. REUTERS/Jim Young (BRITAIN - Tags: SPORT SWIMMING) (REUTERS)

Brittany Maclean wrote the latest chapter in her love-hate relationship with the pool at the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre on Thursday night.

The Etobicoke, Ont., native battled shoulder and hamstring injuries at last summer’s Pan American Games, where she missed the podium in the 800-metre freestyle event but picked up a bronze medal as the anchor on the 4x200-metre freestyle relay team.

“Pan Ams was a very humbling experience,” Maclean said. “For me, I was very out of shape. I had trouble with injuries, but I had given it everything I had in me that I could possibly (do). Things didn't work out my way. It was hard.

“I took a full break (after the Pan Ams). I was obviously sad, disappointed, and I was very injured. But that was exactly the smartest thing I could've done to get me prepared for this year, get me prepared for this summer.”

Nine months later, the 22-year-old is having quite a week at the Canadian Olympic & Para-swimming Trials.

On Tuesday, Maclean qualified for Rio in the 400-metre freestyle event with a Canadian record time (4:03.84). Then on Thursday night, she qualified in the 200-metre freestyle event, setting another Canadian record with a 1:56.94 time.

Following Day 3 of the trials, nine women and three men have qualified for this summer’s Olympics in Rio in an individual event. MacLean and Penny Oleksiak have each qualified for two events.

“There's a few details I know I can improve on,” MacLean said. “For now, I'm definitely going to take the 1:56.94. I'm happy with that. To swim two events at the Olympics is crazy.

“(In London) I went for one in the relay and I'm hoping to maybe add one more in the next two days. Just super excited with where I'm at and where I'm headed.”

MacLean’s time on Thursday night tops the previous national record of 1:56.97 set by Genevieve Saumur in 2009. Maclean also improved her personal best of 1:57.20, which she set at the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

“I never dreamed that I would be back here today, but I went from hating this pool to loving this pool in a matter of a year,” said MacLean.

This week’s performance continues a successful few weeks for MacLean. In March she won the 200-metre freestyle at the 2016 NCAA Division I Women’s Championships while representing the University of Georgia Bulldogs. She also finished second in the 1,650-metre freestyle event and helped the Bulldogs' 400-metre freestyle team to a second-place finish.

The sports management major called the 2012 Olympics in London her coming-out party. With an additional three years of experience under her belt now, MacLean is hoping to be a household name in the pool in Rio.

“For me, I was the Canadian record holder, but I wasn't a name in world-class swimming. My goal was just to get in at London, give it everything I have because I was this outside shot, I was ranked 26th or something. I just wanted to see what I could do,” MacLean said. “It was kind of like 'OK now I know I can race on the world stage. Now I know I'm capable of bigger things.'

“Hopefully people start knowing my name.”