Masse has eye out for Australian comeback
SHE heads into the Commonwealth Games as world champion and world record-holder but Kylie Masse is preparing for an Aussie fightback on the Gold Coast.
Masse won the 100m backstroke at the world championships in Budapest last year, setting a world record on her way to the wall to touch out America’s Kathleen Baker and former world champion, Australia’s Emily Seebohm.
Seebohm turned the tables in the 200m, winning gold, with Masse fifth behind rising Sunshine Coast star Kaylee McKeown.
“The Australians are really talented in backstroke and it’s always a pleasure racing Emily and Kaylee, who I raced at worlds and she had a great 200m,” Masse said. “So it’s always great racing them and I’m looking really looking forward to the challenge.
“It really is (a world-class challenge) and with such a deep field, it can really be anyone’s race.”
While Masse is complimentary of Seebohm and McKeown, there’s little doubt the 22year-old is here to win. “I think that’s always a goal. But I’m really just trying to see what I can do outdoors,” she said.
Masse heads into the Games with the fastest time in the world this year in the 100m (58.54sec) and second-fastest in the 200m (2:07.47) just behind Canadian teammate Taylor Ruck (2:06.36), despite racing sparingly over the northern winter.
“Every international meet leading into the next quadrennial (Olympics) is a stepping stone but this year, this was our focus, the Comm Games,” Masse said.