2016 Olympic bronze medalist Kylie Masse broke her own Canadian record for the second time today, winning the Canadian women's 100 backstroke title in 58.21 seconds on Thursday night in Victoria.
Her swim of 58.21 marks the second fastest ever to be swum in the world, and the fastest to ever be swum in a textile suit. The two-time reigning U of T Varsity Blues T-Holder's female athlete of the year was just .09 of a second off the world record held by Gemma Spofforth of Great Britain. Masse also broke America's record of 58.33 held by Missy Franklin. Her time was better than the 58.45 swam by Hungary's Katinka Hosszu to win the gold medal in the 100 back at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
"This morning it was my first race and getting my feet wet, there was no pressure," said Masse. "I just went out there and had fun with it. I tried to replicate the same thing, I accelerated more in my last 25 and that really helped."
Masse believes the world record is in her sights. "That's every swimmer's dream, but there's still a lot of work to do," she said.
Holding the No. 1 rank in the world, Masse qualifies for the 2017 FINA World Championships, July 14-30, in Budapest.
"Kylie is an amazing athlete," said Varsity Blues head coach Byron MacDonald. "Sometimes people don't realize the rarified level that this woman has attained. Only one other person has ever swum as fast as Kylie in the 100 back. This time today would have won the gold medal at last year's Olympics. She continues to improve at a staggering rate."
"Kylie is 100% a product of university sport in Canada," continued MacDonald. "She was ranked 200th in the world in high school and has moved up 200 spots. She is incredible."
Read about Masse's 2016-17 accomplishments here.
The Varsity Blues won two other national titles on Day 1. Matt Dans swam a personal best 24.35 seconds to win the men's 50 butterfly gold medal, while fellow veteran Eli Wall touched the wall in a personal best time of 2:12.26 to claim the men's 200 breaststroke title.
The championships resume tomorrow with preliminaries starting at 1 p.m. EST.