University of Toronto Varsity Blues swimming star Kylie Masse won two gold medals and added two silver medals at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, April 4-10, in Gold Coast, Australia.
Just 24 hours after being named the 2017-18 U of T T-Holders' female athlete of the year, Masse, of LaSalle, Ont., bettered the Games record for a third time in two days, clocking 58.63 seconds to win the women's 100 backstroke. She edged Emily
Seebohm of Australia (58.66) while fellow Canadian Taylor Ruck was in the mix finishing third in 58.97.
''I'm always stronger on the last length,'' said Masse, second at the turn. ''I
didn't panic. I
didn't know where Emily was in the race. She usually goes out quite fast so I was expecting we'd be close at the end.
''When I saw my name at the top of the board it was a feeling of relief and happiness.''
Swimming Canada's high performance director John Atkinson lauded Masse's racing ability.
''It all comes down to the finish,'' he said. ''Champions know how to get their hands on the wall. She went through the heats in varied weather conditions and nothing fazed her.''
She followed that up with another first-place finish in the 200 backstroke. After qualifying first out of heats in 2:09.12, Masse broke her second Commonwealth Games record, touching the wall in 2:05.98 to reach the top of the podium for the second straight day.
Masse capped off the meet by placing second in the women's 50 backstroke (27.82) and helping Team Canada to a silver-medal finish in the 4x100 medley relay in 3:55.10.
Fellow Varsity Blues swimmer Eli Wall represented U of T and Canada at the Games as well. Individually, Wall placed eighth in the men's 200 breaststroke final in 2:11.94, and went onto earn a 10th place finish in the 100 breaststroke (1:01.47). He then finished 12th in the men's 50 breaststroke in 28.52 seconds. He wrapped up the meet by helping Canada to a fifth-place finish in the 4x100 medley relay (3:36.12).
Full results:
https://results.gc2018.com/en/swimming/daily-schedule-date=2018-04-07.htm
For more information, scores and highlights on your favourite U of T athletes and teams, please visit
www.varsityblues.ca. Don't forget to follow us on
Twitter,
Instagram,
SnapChat and
Facebook for the latest and greatest in Varsity Blues intercollegiate athletics.