A silver lining for Kylie Masse

Canadian swimmer wins medal in women’s 200-metre backstroke, bringing country’s total to 12,

TOKYO—Grandeur and glory are slippery. Like a wet pool deck, lose your footing and slip.

One minute, Kylie Masse was a back-to-back world titlist, the most decorated of Canadian swimmers — a three-medal performance at the 2019 FINA championships (one gold, two bronze) and Swimming Canada’s female swimmer of the year for the third straight time.

Next minute, well, the approaching Tokyo Olympics were triggering Rio nostalgia and glitter revisited: Masse was the woman who didn’t win gold, tied or otherwise in those medals-burnished Games for Canada’s swim cadre; who wasn’t the teenage darling of the wet cast; who didn’t have a brother playing in the NHL, too cool.

Who wasn’t the face on the prow of the women’s swimming galleon.

Nor had the backstroke specialist, in the aftermath of Rio, fallen prey to post-Olympics post-celebutante angst — just the kind of cautionary tale reporters like to spin, especially with a redemptive coda — because her Olympic bling was merely a Brazilian bronze and she never became a boldface or household name.

Masse just kept stroking: through a plague, through lockdowns, through the pool in her parents’ LaSalle, Ont., backyard because there was nothing else available, tethered to a harness for resistance and some 40 feet shy of Olympic dimensions.

On Tuesday, Masse won silver in the 100-metre backstroke, just behind Australian girl wonder Kaylee McKeown, and she was over the moon with it.

On Saturday, it was silver redux in the 200-metre backstroke, just behind McKeown, and she was over the moon with it.

“I definitely like the hundred more,” Masse admitted afterwards, gasping in the mixed zone, beads of water clinging to her chestnut-dark hair. “But having said that, I’ve worked a lot on my 200 pace and training over the last year and a half, two years. My 200 has come a long way.”

Didn’t make the Rio Games with it in 2016. Didn’t make the worlds final with it in 2017.

“It’s something that’s taken years to get to here and I’m really happy with my progress, and proud of being able to get on the podium here today.”

Masse, swimming in lane six, actually had the fastest start in the thrilling race (0.80 ahead of McKeon at the first turn) and maintained that position through the 100 mark — utilizing her natural and trademark speed, the way she makes it look effortless, on her back in the water. As they got to the turn at 150, Masse was still leading but McKeown was catching up, passing the Canadian with 20 metres left, outtouching Masse at the wall by 0.74 of a second.

Such an agonizingly close thing, again. McKeown: 2:04.46 Masse: 2:05.42

Emily Seebohm: 2:06.17. The world and Olympic records — 2:03.35 and 2:04.06, respectively — were never in danger. Taylor Ruck from Kelowna, B.C., finished sixth with a time of 2:08.24.

But solid silver for Masse. Twice in one week, too.

“It feels amazing. I’m incredibly honoured to a) represent Canada and b) get on the podium twice. I know that I set expectations for myself, but I’m really happy to have gotten on the podium a second time at an Olympic Games.

Yeah, it’s really an honour.”

That’s five medals in the Tokyo pool and a dozen at these Games for Canada, all gathered in by women.

Masse is 25 years old, has just graduated with a degree in kinesiology from the University of Toronto — took seven years to earn it, academics wrapping around her swimming career — and it’s fair to say is more woman than girl. Because sports, particularly of the elite and obsessive kind, staying in that designated lane of identity, can be infantilizing.

Certainly not just of females. Peter Pans come in all genders.

“I’m one of the older people now, I can hardly believe it,” Masse told the Star recently. “It’s great to have a dynamic like that, when you have veterans that have been around for a few years but also people who are new. That’s how the sport rolls over.”

Masse doesn’t giggle. She speaks in sentences, thoughtfully. There’s a maturity about her that teammates have yet to attain, no matter how fine their achievements — and there certainly have been a lot of achievements in the Tokyo 2020 pool over the past week: five medals, one gold, three silver, one bronze. With yet the chance for more Sunday, the concluding day of the swim events, as track and field muscles onto centre stage. Penny Oleksiak is primed to break the Canadian medal record as one-quarter of the women’s 4x100 medley relay. Yay Penny.

Not being churlish here, but Oleksiak has one (1) gold medal at the Olympics and none (0) at worlds. The wondrous Maggie Mac Neil has drawn level with her mythologized teammate, dramatic catch-up golden in the 100-metre butterfly on Monday after silver (with Oleksiak et al) in the 4x100 freestyle relay.

When Masse helped set a Canadian record for bronze in the 200 backstroke at the world aquatics championships two years ago, it was Canada’s seventh medal in the pool. On that day in Gwangju, South Korean, Masse equalled Oleksiak as Canada’s most decorated female swimmer at words — did you know that? — but two of hers are d’or to die for.

While there had been three current and previous world record-holders in the pool together for the 100 earlier (one hell of a dramatic splash) neither the 200 world nor 200

Olympic record-holder went into the water on Saturday: Americans Regan Smith and Missy Franklin still holding onto those.

But it was a thrashing group that had progressed from the semifinals: Masse with the fourth-best time at 2:07.82, McKeown fifth in qualifying at 2:07.93. Fastest time out of the semis, actually, was Seebohm, at 2:07.09. Ruck, qualifying seventh, had a time of 2:08.73.

Masse’s personal best at this distance was 2:05.94, set at the Canadian trials two years ago.

She’d been asked: What would be the greatest triumph? Which did she covet most? World record, world championship title, Olympic gold?

“That’s a tough question,” Masse answered. “All of those would be a wonderful accomplishment. Out of the three, right now, being Olympic champion would be the best.”

For the second time in one week, not quite, by a whisper of a breath. But on the podium and invested with silver the size of a cake platter.

Speaking of … Masse’s guilty pleasures are cheesecake and chocolate.

Go ahead now, girl. Indulge.