Kylie Masse

Biography

Kylie Masse is a four-time Olympic medallist. Three of those were won in her second Olympic appearance at Tokyo 2020 where she claimed silver in both the women’s 100m and 200m backstroke events to go with a bronze in the women’s 4x100m medley relay. Canadian records were set in the two latter events. Masse was just the fourth woman to ever finish as runner-up in both backstroke events at the same Olympic Games.  

In her Olympic debut at Rio 2016, Masse won bronze in the 100m backstroke, setting a national record in the process. She also swam the leadoff backstroke leg for the 4x100m medley relay that set a national record in finishing fifth.

Masse has won nine career medals at the World Aquatics Championships, tying her with Penny Oleksiak for the all-time lead among Canadian swimmers. Masse has won a medal in each of her world championship appearances.  

In 2017, Masse made history by becoming the first Canadian woman to win a world title in swimming. She captured gold in the 100m backstroke by setting a world record time of 58.10 seconds. She added a bronze medal as a member of the mixed 4x100m medley relay and got close to the podium in the women’s 4x100m medley relay (4^th) and 200m backstroke (5^th).

Masse successfully defended her 100m backstroke title at the 2019 World Aquatics Championships, making her the first Canadian swimmer to ever win back-to-back gold medals in the same event. She also stood on the podium in the 200m backstroke and the women’s 4x100m medley relay, winning bronze in both. She went on to be named Swimming Canada’s Female Swimmer of the Year for the third straight year.

Masse also won three medals at the 2022 World Aquatics Championships, highlighted by her gold in the 50m backstroke. She added silver in the 100m backstroke and bronze in the 4x100m medley relay.

At the 2023 World Aquatics Championships, Masse missed the podium for the first time in the 100m backstroke, placing fourth. But on the last day of the meet, she led off for the women’s 4x100m medley relay that won bronze.

Masse won gold in the 100m and 200m backstroke events at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, setting Commonwealth records in both. She also came home with silver medals from the 50m backstroke and women’s 4x100m medley relay. She was a five-time medallist at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, with gold in the 50m backstroke and four silver medals (100m backstroke, 200m backstroke, women’s 4x100m medley relay, mixed 4x100m medley relay).

In 2018 Masse won 100m backstroke gold at the Pan Pacific Championships after breaking the meet record in the preliminaries and was named female swimmer of the championships.

Masse represented Canada at the World University Games in 2015 where she won gold in the 100m backstroke. Competing regularly for the University of Toronto, she was named the Varsity Blues’ female rookie of the year in 2014-15. She was named U of T’s female athlete of the year each of the next four years (2015-16 to 2018-19). In 2015-16 she also won the BLG Award as the female athlete of the year in Canadian university sport. Her previous multi-sport experience includes a trip to the Canada Games in 2013.

Masse moved her training base to Spain in 2022 to continue working with coach Ben Titley, who had formerly been the head coach at the High Performance Centre – Ontario.

A Little More About Kylie

Getting into the Sport: Started swimming competitively at age 10… After doing summer swim team with her siblings, decided she liked swimming and joined the competitive team in her area… Outside Interests: Studied kinesiology at the University of Toronto; would like to pursue a career in health care… Enjoys fashion, dance, travelling, delicious food…Odds and Ends: Nickname Ky… Likes to buy something during travels to remind her of the trip…