Mac Neil and Masse combine for seven medals at FINA Swimming World Cup
Tokyo 2020 medallists Margaret Mac Neil and Kylie Masse finished off a successful weekend at the FINA Swimming World Cup in Berlin, Germany on Sunday, winning one medal apiece while upping their combined medal count to seven.
Mac Neil claimed her first gold medal of the weekend in the women’s 100m butterfly, touching the wall in 55.30s to set a new Canadian record. Louise Hansson of Sweden took silver with a time of 55.49s while Maria Ugolkova of Switzerland won bronze in 57.00s.
With four medals and 54.6 points to her name, Mac Neil sits in third place in the women’s individual rankings through the first World Cup event. Anastasia Gorbenko of Israel is first overall with 57.1 points and Emma McKeon of Australia is second with 55.8 points.
Masse collected her third medal overall with a bronze in the women’s 200m backstroke, clocking in at 2:04.53. Kira Toussaint of the Netherlands won gold in 2:03.44 while JoJo Ramey of the United States took silver in 2:04.41.
On Saturday the duo stepped onto the podium together for the second time in the women’s 100m backstroke. Mac Neil went on to swim to her third medal of the weekend with bronze in the 50m butterfly event on Saturday.
Mac Neil, the Olympic champion in the 100 butterfly, took second place in the Berlin World Cup final with 56.16 seconds. Kylie Masse finished in third position, posting a time of 56.31s. Sweden’s Louise Hansson finished first place in the event in 56.03s.
Shortly after, Mac Neil swam to third place in the women’s 50m butterfly event with a time of 25.13 seconds. Australian swimmer Holly Barratt took top spot (24.77s) while Australian Emma McKeon rounded out the podium with silver (25.10s).
Previously on Friday, both Mac Neil and Masse also stepped onto the podium in the 50m backstroke event. Mac Neil took second place in the very quick final with a time of 25.84 seconds, just 0.03 seconds behind the winner of the event Kira Toussaint from the Netherlands. The performance of the latter also corresponds to the best time ever recorded in this event during a World Cup event.
100m and 200m backstroke specialist Masse rounded out the podium with a time of 25.96s. Toussaint, Mac Neil and Masse are the only swimmers in the final to have a time under 26 seconds.
Earlier on Friday, Mac Neil had come close to the podium, finishing fourth in the 100m individual medley event. At Tokyo 2020, both Masse and Mac Neil were a part of the medley relay team that won bronze.
The FINA Swimming World Cup season continues in Budapest, Hungary next Thursday. See the full schedule for the season here.
