Masse wins bronze for second straight Olympic medal in 200m backstroke

Kylie Masse swam her way to the podium in the women’s 200m backstroke, winning bronze at Paris 2024.

She clocked in at 2:05.57 to finish third behind Australian Kaylee McKeown and American Regan Smith. McKeown swam to an Olympic record 2:03.73 while Smith touched in 2:04.26.

Masse went out hard from the start and was first to the wall after the first 50 metres. But then Smith picked up her pace and took the lead through the midway mark while Masse dropped to second. Through the third lap, Masse fell back to fourth place as she was passed by both McKeown and another American, Phoebe Bacon.

But the Canadian veteran was not about to let the medal slip out of her sight. While McKeown moved past Smith in the home stretch, Masse was able to just out-touch Bacon at the wall by 0.04 of a second.

It is Masse’s second straight Olympic medal in the event, having been the silver medallist at Tokyo 2020. Masse is now the first Canadian swimmer to win an individual medal at three Olympic Games.