Masse taking aim at another golden finish

BUDAPEST, HUNGARY Kylie Masse will swim for another medal Saturday, qualifying for the 200-metre backstroke final in a Canadian record time of two minutes, 5.97 seconds.

With that time, the 21-year-old from LaSalle, Ont. would have won gold at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

On Friday, only defending world champion Emily Seebohm of Australia was quicker, touching the wall in 2:05.81.

“I could see that it was close. I saw the scoreboard at one point,” Masse said. “I knew it was going to be a tight finish, but I did the best I could to get my hand to the wall as fast as possible.”

Earlier this week, Masse became the first Canadian woman to win gold at the world championships, setting a world record in the 100-metre backstroke. She later won bronze in the 4x100-metre mixed medley relay.

She’ll be joined in Saturday’s final by Hilary Caldwell of White Rock, B.C., who won bronze over this distance at the Rio Olympics and the 2013 world championships. Caldwell, 26, advanced in eighth at 2:07.64.

Toronto’s Penny Oleksiak, meanwhile, advanced to the women’s 50-metre butterfly final, qualifying fourth in a time of 25.66.

Earlier in the day, Oleksiak finished sixth in the 100-metre freestyle competition won by American Simone Manuel. The two tied for gold in the event at the Rio Games, as Manuel became the first African-American woman to win an individual swimming gold at a Summer Olympics.

“It felt pretty good,” said Oleksiak, who trains at the High Performance Centre — Ontario.

“I think I have to be more playful and fun going into the 50 fly. All my other events I take super seriously and I have a whole plan going into them, but this one is literally put your head down and try to get to the wall first.”