Kylie Masse

Kylie Jacqueline Masse (born January 18, 1996) is a Canadian competitive swimmer.

She did not achieve success in the junior ranks, and in 2014 was rated 201st overall in the global rankings.

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.

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 rapidly improving performances earned her the award for CIS swimmer of the year in both 2015 and 2016.

In April 2015, Masse participated in the Canadian swimming trials, hoping to make the team for the 2015 Pan American Games that were scheduled to be held on home soil in Toronto.

She did not qualify for the Pan American Games, to her disappointment, but was instead named to the Canadian team for the 2015 Summer Universiade in Gwangju.

In her first senior international event, Masse qualified to the final in the 100 m backstroke, where she was, at age 19, the youngest swimmer in the field.

She won the gold medal, one of two for the Canadian team at the Universiade.

Reflecting on the championship title five years later, Masse would remark that it "gave me so much confidence in my swimming" and propelled her to further results.

She is a four-time Olympic medallist, 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 qualified for the Canadian team for the 2016 Summer Olympics.

Masse was Canada's lead competitor in the 100 m backstroke at the games, where set and improved the national record in the 100 m 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.

On the final day of swimming competition, Masse participated in her second event of the games, performing the backstroke leg for the Canadian women's team in the 4×100 m medley relay.

Expectations for the team had been somewhat raised due to the strong performances of members throughout, including both Masse and breakout star Penny Oleksiak, but they ultimately finished in fifth place.

Following Rio de Janeiro, Masse's next event was her first World Swimming Championships, held in a short course (25 m) pool.

The 2016 edition was held in her hometown of Windsor, Ontario, where her Olympic success had raised her to the level of local celebrity.

Masse won the silver medal in the 100 m backstroke, finishing behind only reigning Olympic champion Katinka Hosszú.

She won a second silver medal as part of the Canadian Canadian 4×100 m medley relay team.

Commenting on the results, her coach Byron MacDonald predicted "the upside for Kylie is tremendous. You have to remember she's new to this. Anything can happen right now. She has not hit her limit yet."

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.

At the 2017 Canadian Swimming Championships, Masse 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.

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.

Masse is a two-time world champion in the 100 m backstroke, breaking the eight year old world record in the process, which she held until July 2018.

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 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."

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.