University of Toronto swimmer Kylie Masse put her name on the Canadian record books with a 26.84 performance in the short course 50m backstroke at the OUA Fairweather Divisional Championships.
The second-year swimmer took 16 one-hundredths of a second off Paige Miller’s previous Canadian record time of 27.00 that she set just two weeks earlier at the Short Course Age Group International.
Both Miller and Masse train together at UofT under head coach Byron MacDonald who stated that the rivalry between the two of them stems out of a great training environment.
“One of the areas that we felt Kylie could improve was her underwater on starts and turns, so having Paige in the water, who is renown for one of the best underwater kicks in the world is perfect,” said MacDonald. “Paige gets to race someone daily which helps her improve.”
Masse has shown plenty of improvement since starting with the Varsity Blues in the fall of 2014. Last season, she went on to win gold at the World University Games in the 100m backstroke with a time of 59.97.
Both Masse and Miller will be gunning to improve upon the new 50m backstroke record.
Masse went on to win the 200m IM, 200m backstroke, and 100m backstroke at the OUA Fairweather Divisional Championships.