We put her on our 4×200-m freestyle relay at the CI’s and she dropped from a best time of 2:06 to 2:01-plus when she got into a great race. And it certainly helps that she is a born racer. The speed she shows in workout is very impressive - usually she has to race the guys to get any competition. “Kylie is one of the few swimmers that has tremendous feel for the water,” MacDonald adds. She has fast-tracked the improvement arc to now be ranked top 10 in the world, which is ahead of schedule - but certainly it’s a rewarding year for her. “Kylie has certainly proven that prognosis correct. “I thought she was the top recruit in the country last year and was filled with potential,” says Varsity Blues head coach Byron MacDonald. She erased three-time Olympian Joanne Malar’s two-decade-old OUA record in 200-metre individual medley. ![]() Her first year at Toronto was topped by winning four individual golds at the Ontario University Athletics championships and being named the conference’s top swimmer and top rookie. ![]() Masse’s gold was a microcosm of a whirlwind past 12 months where she has shaved nearly three full seconds off her personal best in 100-m backstroke. Training with the High Performance Centre once a week during the year has been really helpful.” “I really enjoy training there with U of T,” adds Masse, who attended National Team Trials in April. I’ve been there the entire off-season and it’s really good. I love training there and it’s an awesome atmosphere. “But it came down to just that I was going to feel more comfortable staying in Canada… U of T has a great athletic and academic ranking. “I spent a lot of time going through schools in Canada and the States,” says Masse. The Lasalle, Ont., native’s winning time of 59.97 seconds in Gwangju, South Korea was the world’s ninth-fastest of 2015 and, for the time being, tops the personal bests of international such stars such as Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom and the United States’ Natalie Coughlin. ![]() That helped Masse keep improving incrementally and be fresh for her first major international competition. Joining the University of Toronto Varsity Blues meant Masse had a relatively easy commute to also train once a week with the High Performance Centre – Ontario at the new Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre. Staying in Canada has helped Kylie Masse, who won the gold in the women’s 100-metre backstroke at the FISU Universide on July 7, get on a fast track to being world-class.
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