Masse brings home Olympic backstroke bronze from Rio 2016
Canada has its third medal from the pool and fourth overall at Rio 2016, with Kylie Masse taking bronze (tied) in the 100-metre backstroke on Monday night.
The Canadian had come into the race with the fifth fastest qualifying time from the semifinals and pulled into the top three from lane two, where she tied for third with Yuanhui Fu of China in 58.76 seconds.
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Kylie Masse holds up her Olympic bronze medal at Rio 2016 after the 100m backstroke on August 8, 2016.
In a very close race, Masse seemed to make up some ground in the final 15-20 metres and willed herself to the wall, which was first touched by Katinka Hosszu of Hungary (58.45) and then Kathleen Baker of the United States (58.75), who just outstretched her challengers for silver by the smallest of margins.
For Hosszu, it was her second gold medal of the Games, earlier winning the 400m individual medley on Day 1. Later in the night Hosszu won her heat in the 200m IM, setting herself up for a possible third gold medal in Rio.
Masse’s medal adds to three days of continued success for Swimming Canada.
Rio 2016: Kylie Masse
On the opening day the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay team took bronze, the first medal in that event for Canada since Montreal 1976.
The following night, one of the women in the medal-winning relay team, Penny Oleksiak, grabbed a silver medal in the 100m butterfly.
Masse’s is Canada’s second medal of Day 3. Earlier, the women’s rugby team took bronze by beating Great Britain for third at the inaugural Olympic women’s tournament.
