Kylie Masse
Kylie Jacqueline Masse (born January 18, 1996) is a Canadian competition swimmer. She is a four-time Olympic medalist, having tied for the bronze medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics in the 100 m backstroke and then won silver medals at the 2020 Summer Olympics in both the 100 m and 200 m backstroke and a bronze medal in the 4x100 m medley. Masse is the current world champion in the 100 m backstroke, breaking the eight year old world record in the process, which she held until July 2018. While winning her title in Budapest at the  2017 World Aquatics Championships she became the first Canadian woman to become a world champion in a swimming event. She subsequently became the first Canadian woman to defend her world title at the 2019 World Aquatics Championships. She is currently the captain for the Toronto Titans of the International Swimming League. Masse won two gold medals at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in the 100 m and 200 m backstroke, setting a games record in both events, and finished the games with a silver in the 50 m backstroke. She is also the Canadian record holder in the 100 m backstroke . Masse won gold in the 100 m backstroke at the 2015 Summer Universiade and was the 2015-16 CIS swimmer of the year while swimming at the University of Toronto. Career. Masse started swimming at a young age for the Windsor Essex Swim team and was coached by Andrei Semenov. She was then recruited to swim with the University of Toronto swim team where her performances earned her the award of the 2015-16 CIS swimmer of the year. 2016 Summer Olympics. She competed for Canada's Olympic team at the 2016 Summer Olympics. Masse was Canada's lead competitor  in the 100 m backstroke at the games. She set and improved the national record in the 100 backstroke in both the heats and semi-finals. In the final she swam to a bronze medal tie with Fu Yuanhui while again bettering the national record, setting it at 58.76. 2017 World Championships. At the 2017 Canadian Swimming Championships she broke the Americas record in the 100 m backstroke in a time of 58.21, which was also the fastest time ever in a textile suit and the third-fastest time in history at that time. Masse was assigned to compete at  the 2017 World Aquatics Championships in Budapest. There she broke a world record that had stood for eight years, en route to winning her first world championship title in 58.10 seconds. With the title, she became the first Canadian woman to become a world champion and first Canadian to win a title since Brent Hayden. An elated Masse said after the race that "I don't think it's really sunk in yet. I touched the wall, I looked back and I had to make sure I was looking at the right name and the right time. I was just  super excited in the moment. After the Olympics I just gained a lot more confidence in myself and experience. I gained a lot from just doing that routine for a week, doing prelims, semis and finals. All that experience really helps and makes you feel more confident." Masse followed up her world record by participating in the final of the mixed 4 × 100 m medley with the lead-off backstroke leg of the race. Yuri Kisil anchored the team in the final freestyle leg, pulling the team into a tie for bronze with the Chinese team. She competed in  the women's 200 m backstroke setting the Canadian record at 2:05.97 in the semis and qualifying for the final second overall, but was unable to duplicate her time and placed fifth at 2:07.04 ahead of teammate Hilary Caldwell. Following the championships the town of LaSalle, Ontario dedicated an August 18 day to fest her accomplishments and celebrated with her and a town barbecue. 2018 Commonwealth Games. Masse was named as part of Canada's team at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. She began her part of the competition in her preferred event, the 100 m. Masse set two Commonwealth Games  records en route to the final. In the final she again set the record, just out-touching Emily Seebohm for the gold medal. After seeing she had won the event she told reports how she felt about the win and coming in to the event as the favourite, saying, "Relief, happiness. Just coming into another big meet with kind of a target on your back is something relatively new to me. So I’m still trying to kind of focus on my stroke and what I can control and not worry too much about outside pressures or anything like that ." Masse followed up her victory in the 100 m back with a gold in the 200 m backstroke the next day. She again set a Commonwealth Games record, finishing ahead of 17 year old teammate Taylor Ruck. Masse ended her games with a silver medal and a Canadian record in the 50 m backstroke and another silver medal in 4 × 100 m medley relay event. 2019 World Championships. At the 2019 World Aquatics Championships Masse entered the competition to defend her title in the 100 m backstroke. In the final she found in herself in fourth place through the  first 50 m but passed Minna Atherton on her way to her second consecutive world title in the 100. With the victory Masse became the first Canadian swimmer to defend a world title and only the second to win two golds at the event. She then competed in the 200 m backstroke where she finished in third place. Masse concluded her world championships with a third medal when she won bronze as part of the 4x100 medley relay and her fifth medal over her career at the event. Her three individual medals at worlds in total equaled the number achieved  by fellow Canadian Sydney Pickrem and her five world medals in total now tied Penny Oleksiak. 2019–20 International Swimming League. On March 18, 2020, Masse was signed to the Toronto Titans of the International Swimming League as the team captain. This was to be Masse's first time in the ISL. However, the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic upended the planned swimming calendar, including delaying the 2020 Summer Olympics by a year. With training facilities closed in Canada starting in March, Masse was unable to train in a competitive environment for several months, resorting to out-of-water training at  home and making use of her parents' pool. In June, she opted to leave the University of Toronto's swimming program to join the Canadian national team, as its facility was reopening. After seven months away from competition, Masse traveled to Budapest to join the ISL. October 25, 2020, in her ISL debut during Match 3, she finished 8th in the match MVP standings with 30.5 points. She won the 100m backstroke with a time of 56.38 seconds. On November 1, 2020, during Match 6 of the ISL, Masse won the 50m backstroke and helped her team win  the 4x100 medley relay. As a result for the medley win, her team got to pick which skin they wanted to race in. On November 2, Masse won the 100m backstroke, and the skin for the 50m backstroke. On November 5, 2020, during Match 7, Masse won the 50m backstroke again. 2020 Summer Olympics. Despite having already been named to the Canadian Olympic team, Masse competed at the national swimming trials, going below the 58-second mark for the first time to win the 100 m backstroke event with a time of 57.70 seconds. Competing first in  the 100 m backstroke event, Masse was identified as one of the three medal favourites, alongside Australia's Kaylee McKeown and American Regan Smith. Masse set an Olympic record in her first heat, which was broken minutes later by McKeown, and then in turn by Smith. Masse won her semi-final over McKeown, while Smith won the other with a fourth Olympic record. In the event final, she came second behind McKeown, taking the silver medal in 57.72 seconds. Masse's second event was the 200 m backstroke, which she had not contested at the Rio Olympics. She was again  cited as one of the medal favourites, alongside McKeown and American Rhyan White, and placed second behind McKeown in both the heats and the semifinals, tying with White in the latter. In the final, Masse lead McKeown through the first three lengths of the race, ultimately being overtaken in the final stretch, and won her second silver medal of the Games. In the process she set a new national record. For her final event, Masse was again the backstroke leg of Canada's team in the 4×100 m medley relay, facing off again against McKeown and Smith. Masse won her  segment of the competition with a 57.90 time, while the Canadians took the bronze medal, Masse's fourth. 2021 World Short Course Championships. She ended her year at the 2021 FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m) in Abu Dhabi. Masse's first event was the 100 m backstroke where she won silver, finishing just behind Sweden's Louise Hansson, while setting a Canadian record in the process. She then competed in the 200 m where she won silver behind Rhyan White, though in this distance Masse told media she was disappointed with her time though content with the medal. Masse  then competed in the 50 m where she won a third medal behind teammate Maggie Mac Neil who set a world record. She added a silver medal in the women's 4×100 m medley relay to win her fourth silver medal of the competition and tenth total medal won at a World Championships to make her the most decorated swimmer at the World Championships.