Golden sweep for Varsity Blues' Masse in Rome

ROME – Olympic team member and 2015-16 University of Toronto T-Holders' female athlete of the year Kylie Masse completed a golden sweep of the women's backstroke events on Sunday with a victory in the 200m race at the Italian International swimming competition.
 
The 20-year-old Masse clocked a personal best 2:08.79 seconds.  She also won the 50 backstroke – in Canadian record time on Friday – and the 100-m backstroke on Saturday.

''It means so much to win with the Games coming up,'' said the 20-year-old Masse. ''I'm really seeing a lot of progress thanks to the hard work I'm putting in and I have to continue with making the necessary adjustments.''
 
Masse qualified for Rio in the 100 backstroke after a dominant performance at the 2016 Canadian Olympic swimming Trials in early April.
U of T associate head coach Linda Kiefer says her star pupil is in the right frame of mind.

''We didn't know how she would respond to the outdoor venue here but she's just swimming so well right now,'' said Kiefer. She's catching the water and keeping positive and happy.'

She was named the 2015-16 BLG Canadian Interuniversity Sport female athlete of the year after putting together one of the best seasons in Canadian university swimming history.
 
This university season, the new Olympian proved virtually unstoppable, posting 18 individual victories in six conference competitions before setting six OUA records and a pair of Canadian short-course marks at the OUA championships. And then she kept the best for last.
 
In late February, Masse reached the CIS podium in each of her seven events for the second straight year en route to female-MVP honours. She finished the national meet with four gold and three silver medals, including a sweep of the three backstroke finals, all in championship-record times. In the 50 back, she lowered her own Canadian short-course standard in the preliminaries (26.72) before shattering the long-course record in the final (27.84). Her performance helped the U of T women capture their first CIS team banner since 1997.
 
Source: Swimming Canada