Kylie Masse Paces Women’s 100 Back Prelims at Worlds

Photo Courtesy: Chris Reith (Swimming Canada)

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Canada’s Kylie Masse, already the No. 1-ranked swimmer in the world for 2017, posted the fastest qualifying time in the women’s 100 back prelims at the World Championships.

Masse came in at 58.62, 0.18 ahead of hometown favorite and Olympic gold medalist Katinka Hosszu (58.80). However, it’s unclear if Hosszu will swim this race in semi-finals as she also has to deal with the 200 IM final shortly after the 100 back semis would be scheduled.

Australia’s Emily Seebohm, the defending World Champion, qualified third in 58.95, and then there was a big gap back to the fourth qualifier, Russia’s Anastasia Fesikova (59.58).

The two Americans in the field, Olivia Smoliga and Kathleen Baker, qualified fifth and sixth, respectively. Smoliga touched in 59.70, while Baker clocked in at 59.76.

Australia’s Holly Barratt (59.87), China’s Chen Jie (59.88), Great Britain’s Kathleen Dawson (59.88) and Russia’s Daria Ustinova (59.90) also broke the 1:00-mark. Rounding out the semi-final field were Great Britain’s Georgia Davies (1:00.24), the Czech Republic’s Simona Baumrtova (1:00.28), Canada’s Hilary Caldwell (1:00.37), the Netherlands’ Kira Toussaint (1:00.52), China’s Fu Yuanhui (1:00.52) and Ukraine’s Daryna Zevina (1:00.59).

Swimming World Radio

Masse discussed her first swim and how she tries to stay in her own lane as she heads through the championships:

Smoliga and Baker explained how they’ve become used to swimming next to each other and what they gained from watching two impressive U.S. relay victories the night before:

women-100-back-prelims

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