Canada's Kylie Masse delivers again in the Olympic pool with backstroke bronze

Kylie Masse, of LaSalle, Ont., displays her bronze medal after the women's 200-metre backstroke final at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Nanterre, France, Aug. 2, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christinne Muschi

PARIS -

Kylie Masse stretched her streak of swimming medals into new territory.

The veteran backstroker's bronze in the women's 200 metres Friday made her the first Canadian swimmer to win a medal in an individual event in three consecutive Olympic Games.

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Masse also became the first Canadian woman to earn swimming medals in three straight Games.

The 28-year-old from LaSalle, Ont., was a 100-metre backstroke bronze medallist in 2016 in Rio followed by silver medals in both the 100 and 200 backstroke three years ago in Tokyo.

After placing fourth in the 100 metres in Paris, Masse went into the red to reclaim her place among the world's top three backstrokers.

The Canadian ran fourth at the final turn, but overtook American Phoebe Bacon in the home stretch for third.

"It means a lot," Masse said. "I was disappointed after my 100. It stings a bit being just off the podium. I knew tonight's race was going to be difficult and I knew I was going to have to fight to the very end. Those final metres were fighting for sure. The last 15 definitely hurt, but I knew that's where I had to stay strong.

"Any opportunity in a final is an opportunity to get your hand on the wall position one, two, or three."

Masse's medal was the Canadian swim team's fifth in Paris. Summer McIntosh captured a pair of gold medals and a silver, and Ilya Kharun earned a bronze.

Toronto's Josh Liendo almost scored a sixth podium by placing fourth in the men's 50-metre freestyle. He also posted the third-fastest time in the men's 100-metre butterfly semifinals to reach Saturday's final. He'll be joined by teammate Kharun, who qualified sixth.

"I want to get on the podium, that's for sure," Liendo said. "I'm not going to sit here and lie to you guys and be like 'oh, maybe I want to get on.' I definitely do. I need to put the race together tomorrow. That's what the Olympic final is about."

Toronto's McIntosh and Sydney Pickrem of Clearwater, Fla., will race the women's 200-metre individual medley Saturday after finishing second and fifth respectively in the semifinals. Finlay Knox of Okotoks, Alta., placed eighth in the men's 200 I.M.

Australia's Kaylee McKeown defended her 200 backstroke gold in Olympic-record time of two minutes, 3.73 seconds ahead of silver medallist Regan Smith of the United States in 2:04.26.

Masse's time of 2:05.57 was her fastest in a major meet since Tokyo. Masse relocated to Spain in 2022 to train with former Canadian team coach Ben Titley, who had parted company with Swimming Canada earlier that year.

Masse struggled to recover her speed after Tokyo, but felt her form returning at trials in May.

"The goal coming in was to be able to get back on the podium and try and be consistent with my performances over all the Olympics that I've attended, so I'm really, really, really pleased to just have done this tonight and to be a part of history, I guess," Masse said.

Gold medals won by Penny Oleksiak, Maggie Mac Neil and Summer McIntosh in Masse's three Olympic Games overshadowed Masse becoming Canada's best women's backstroker of all time.

Gold has eluded her, but Masse proved again Friday she's a big-game racer. The Canadian team's co-captain was not ready to say Paris is her final Olympic Games as she wants time to reflect.

Liendo's evening was eventful. Frenchman Maxime Grousset withdrew from the eight-man 50-metre freestyle final, which activated the Canadian after he was ninth in the semifinals.

Grousset scratched because the 2023 world 100-metre butterfly champion wanted to save himself for Saturday's final. Liendo wants to win the 100 fly too, but the 21-year-old refused to pass on the entertaining freestyle sprint.

"As soon as I heard that he scratched, I was like 'all right, we're doing this. Let's go,"' Liendo said. "It's an Olympic final. Why not? I never second-guessed it."

Liendo was two-hundredths of a second short of the podium covered by Australia's Cameron McEvoy, Britain's Benjamin Proud and Frenchman Florent Manadou in that order.

La Defense Arena chanted Manadou's name and enthusiastically responded when the Frenchman thunder clapped his hands over his head while standing at the starting blocks to hype the race even more.

"That was sick. Definitely so cool," Liendo said. "That's what I would do if I was in my home country."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 2, 2024.