Canadian Trials, Night 2: Kylie Masse Drops 27.3 to Win 50 Back
Veteran Kylie Masse delivered another 27-low time in the women’s 50 backstroke to win the event at Canadian Trials.
The 29-year-old Masse, a veteran of three Olympics, lowered her Canadian record to 27.13 in May. She won the event Sunday night at Sannich Commonwealth Place in 27.34, earning a trip to the World Championships in Singapore this summer. Masse is a nine-time medalist at the long-course World Championships, winning the 50 back in 2022.
Kylie Masse started a busy second night of the competition, in which Ilya Kharun and Josh Liendo waged an epic battle in the men’s 100 butterfly and that Summer McIntosh concluded by nearly adding a second world record in as many days. All the action from Victoria:
- Live Results
- Psych Sheet
- Live Steam (CBC Sports on Youtube)
- Canadian Trials Preview
- Day 1 Prelims Recap
- Day 1 Finals Recap
- Day 2 Prelims Recap
Women’s 50 backstroke
Kylie Masse made it 2-for-2 in backstroke events after winning the 100 back Saturday night to open the meet. She isn’t entered in the 200, the long-time stalwart perhaps shifting toward the 50s as her career goes on with the addition of the sprints to the 2028 Olympics. Masse lowered her Canadian record at the TYR Pro Swim Series stop in Fort Lauderdale six weeks ago and nearly touched that time again. Masse’s 27.13 is third in the world this year.
Second place went to Ingrid Wilm in 27.58. That is under the Worlds A cut and gets Wilm back to the international stage. She had finished third in the 100 back behind Taylor Ruck on Saturday. Ruck finished third in prelims, then scratched the final.
That allowed Madison Kryger to finish third in 28.28. Delia Lloyd was fourth.
Men’s 50 backstroke
Blake Tierney dropped his second best time of the day to win the 50 back in 25.23. It’s .12 seconds shy of the auto standard of 25.11 for Worlds. Tierney was the top seed out the morning heats after going 25.48.
Second was Benjamin Winterborn in 25.32. Parker Deshayes was third, as he was in the 100, in 25.41. He’s the only junior swimmer of the top eight. Cole Pratt, the 100 back champion, finished fourth in 25.46, edging Finlay Knox’s 25.51.
Women’s 100 butterfly
Mary-Sophie Harvey added a second win and, while she wasn’t happy with the time, it’s enough to get her a second swim at Worlds. Harvey went 58.37 to win the 100 fly. That’s .04 off the auto standard, but having hit that standard in the 200 breast, she’ll get the second swim and preference in a Canadian medley relay.
Harvey’s range in the first two days of Trials is impressive, winning the 200 breaststroke and the 100 fly. She was third at the wall but started to assert herself in the third quarter of the race.
Ella Jansen is in the same boat, having made the auto time for the 400 free and then a B cut in a wildly different event. She surged in the final 50 to go 58.96 to get home in second. Brooklyn Douthwright turned in 59.40 from an outside lane to finish second, edging junior swimmer Matea Gigovic’s 59.61. Gigovic was .01 ahead of Ashlyn Massey.
The B final was won by Seo-Yeong Kim, the four-time South Korean Olympian who went 59.30. She has swum the 200 individual medley at each of the last three Olympics, to go with the 400 IM in 2012 and the 800 free relay in Tokyo.
Men’s 100 butterfly
Josh Liendo and Ilya Kharun shared the podium at the Paris Olympics in the men’s 100 fly. They look like they have a chance to do it again in Singapore.
Kharun won Saturday’s tilt, going 50.37 seconds to edge Liendo’s 50.46. Both are well under the A cut for Worlds.
Kharun improves his world No. 2 time in 2025. A bearded Liendo slots in at No. 3 this year. Only Noe Ponti’s 50.27 is quicker than the two Canadians. Kharun moves into the ninth-fastest performer all-time, a group that Liendo, with his national record 49.99, already belongs to.
Liendo is the sprinter of the bunch and was ahead at the breakout, but Kharun got to the wall first in 23.77 by .08 seconds. Liendo surged off the underwater but Kharun came out ahead by just after the midway point. Liendo looked to time the start a tad better, but Kharun still got there first.
Patrick Hussey was a distant third in 52.24. Fourth was Kharun’s college teammate, Filip Senc-Samardzic, in 52.92.
In the B final, Martin Espernberger went 51.94. The Austrian was .17 seconds shy of the auto standard.
Men’s 1,500 freestyle
Eric Brown got the win in 15:17.54. It’s within a tenth of his best time from 2022 Trials. It’s a B cut for worlds. Aiden Kirk was second in the fastest heat, which was the fourth of five, in 15:32.90. Sebastian Paulins went 15:36.96. Kirk is the top junior swimmer.
Women’s 800 freestyle
Summer McIntosh nearly did it again, getting within a second of Kate Ledecky’s world record with an 8:05.07. It’s the third-fastest time in history. McIntosh was a full 30 seconds ahead of runner-up Ella Crosgrove, whose 8:35.72 is under the cut for the World Junior Championships.
Mabel Zavaros was third in 9:38.67, with Emma Finlin fourth in 9:42.86.
Para swimming
Nicholas Bennett won his second event of trials, the S14 swimmer going 1:54.44 in the men’s multi-class 200 free. He won a silver medal in his classification in this event at the Paralympics in Paris.
Fellow Paralympic silver medalist Reid Maxwell, an S8 swimmer, won the men’s 400 free. Aly van Wyck-Smart set the Canadian record in the S3 200 free, and Jordan Tucker set the S4 women’s national mark in prelims.