Canada's Kharun, Liendo advance in men's swimming

PARIS — The optimistic disposition that's made Kylie Masse a sought-out leader on Canada's swim team was pressed into service when the veteran backstroker contemplated fourth place in the Olympic 100 metres Tuesday.

The 28-year-old from LaSalle, Ont., chased a third medal in as many Olympic Games after silver in Tokyo three years ago and bronze in Rio in 2016.

Masse was tied for the lead at the turn with Regan Smith of the United States, but the Canadian couldn't hold that pace to the wall.

"Fourth stings a little bit," Masse said. "I just wanted to come in and put together the best race that I possibly could and to really just try and enjoy the moment. I'm happy to just be here still and to be competing at this level."

Australia's Kaylee McKeown, who beat Masse by a quarter of a second for the gold in Tokyo, defended her title and broke her own Olympic record with a time of 57.33.

Smith was the silver medallist in 57.66 with American teammate Katharine Berkoff taking bronze in 57.98.

Masse went under 58 seconds at trials in May, but couldn't duplicate it with Tuesday's clocking of 58.29.

Her teammate Ingrid Wilm of Calgary was sixth in the 26-year-old's first Olympic final.

Montreal's Ilya Kharun qualified for Wednesday's men's 200-metre butterfly final with the third-fastest time in the semifinals.

Toronto's Josh Liendo ranked 11th in the men's 100-metre freestyle semifinals and didn't advance.

With 400-metre medley gold and 400-metre freestyle silver already in her pocket, Toronto teenager Summer McIntosh is back on the blocks Wednesday in the women's 200-metre butterfly preliminaries in a bid to pad her medal haul.

Masse still has the 200-metre backstroke on Thursday and likely the medley relay Sunday. She also took silver in the 200 backstroke in Tokyo behind McKeown.

"I have easy speed, so using that, but also I think sometimes when I rush my stroke, it's actually a bit worse, so maybe settling into a bit of a slower stroke rate will benefit me," Masse mused.

She's among just three women to reach three straight Olympic finals in the women's 100 backstroke alongside Australia's Emily Seebohm and Nicole Livingstone.

Masse owns nine world championship medals, including a pair of world titles in 100 backstroke.

So while her teammates Penny Oleksiak, Maggie Mac Neil and McIntosh grabbed headlines with their Olympic gold medals, the swim team's elder stateswoman has stayed among the best backstrokers in the world for eight years.

"Summer McIntosh is absolutely fantastic right now, but when I was growing up, it was Kylie," said Wilm.

Masse is a swim team co-captain and the conscience of the group in many ways, Wilm said.

"She uplifts every single person on this team," Wilm said. "She makes sure we all feel like we belong there and have a place there and someone who will listen, if we have something we want to get off our chest.

"If there's a bunch of boats on the water and someone is lifting the water and lifting all the boats and not just lifting their own, Kylie is someone that lifts every single person's boat.

"Maybe she wanted a better result, but you'd never know it from the look on her face because she's always just there for everybody else and not just her."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 30, 2024.