Masse snags her second silver of Olympics

Canadian edged at the wall by hard-charging Australian McKeown in 200-metre showdown

Canadian backstroke specialist Kylie Masse claimed her second silver medal in the Tokyo Olympic pool on Saturday, once again making it exciting at the wall with rival Kaylee McKeown of Australia.

Masse had been leading for much of the 200-metre race, before McKeown made a final push at the end to win the gold in 2 minutes 4.68 seconds. Masse won silver in 2:05.42, and another Australian, Emily Seebohm, earned bronze in 2:06.17.

The ending was very similar to the race between McKeown and Masse just a few days ago when the 25-year-old Canadian took the silver medal in the 100-metre backstroke. The native of LaSalle, Ont., was out-touched at the wall by McKeown in that one, too, and the Aussie set an Olympic record.

It’s been a passion push for McKeown in Tokyo, because the Australian lost her father Sholto in 2020 and vowed she would be at her finest at these Games in his memory.

Masse has already improved upon her performance at the 2016 Rio Olympics. There, she earned bronze in the 100-metre backstroke and a fifth-place finish with the women’s 4x100-metre medley-relay team. Canada could add to its medal tally in that race on Sunday, with Masse expected to swim the backstroke leg with Penny Oleksiak swimming in the freestyle anchor position.

It was the fifth medal in Tokyo for the Canadian swim team, and the 12th for Canada at these Games, all from women.

Masse led after the first turn in Lane No. 6, slightly ahead of McKeown. But the Aussie used a fast push at the end to motor past her.

It’s impressive for a swimmer who upended her training in the lead-up to these Games.

When the pandemic hit in early 2020, and pools closed, Masse went home to her parents’ house in LaSalle. She found free weights and borrowed a stationary bike from a neighbour. She did yoga, online fitness classes and met with her team on Zoom.

Before Canada’s national team athletes gradually returned to pool training in late June of that year, they were out of the water 122 days, the most among the world’s top swim countries.

Before the pandemic, she had been training with Linda Kiefer and Bryon MacDonald at the University of Toronto. But long-lingering closures at that pool forced her to move to the High Performance Centre in Scarborough, joining Oleksiak, Kayla Sanchez and Summer McIntosh there, under coach Ben Titley.

Masse has been a serious contender in the 100-m backstroke in recent years. She took Olympic bronze in 2016, was the first Canadian woman to win a world title in swimming in 2017, and repeated in 2019. She also won the 2018 Pan Pacific championships and Commonwealth Games. Masse, McKeown and American Regan Smith have all been trading world records in that event.

Canada’s Taylor Ruck finished sixth on Saturday, 3.56 seconds behind the winner.

It was another busy day in the pool. Masse’s race followed the men’s 100-metre butterfly final in which American superstar Caeleb Dressel swam to his third gold medal in Tokyo as his U.S. teammates roared up in the stands.

On Sunday, Oleksiak has a chance to add to her medal collection in the 4x100-m medley relay on Sunday. She is currently tied with speedskater Cindy Klassen and speedskater/cyclist Clara Hughes as Canada’s most decorated Olympian at six medals. A seventh would give her solo claim to the title.