MONTREAL — Kylie Masse needed a reset.
After a decade of the competitive swimming grind, the decorated Canadian backstroker made the type of life change you don’t normally see from someone hitting their 30s: she moved back in with her parents.
The six months at home in LaSalle, Ont., earlier this season ultimately convinced the five-time Olympic medallist to pursue a fourth Summer Games at Los Angeles 2028.
“This sport is incredible, but if you don’t take the time yourself that you need and remove yourself a little bit, it just keeps going,” Masse said this week at the Canadian swimming trials. “I found it important to take a little bit of a step back and just re-evaluate.”
“I haven’t been at home really since I was 18,” she added. “It was pretty cool to be back with my parents and spend some quality time with them, but it fulfilled me in different ways, and I think it’s what’s motivating me for the next two years leading into L.A.”
Masse has since returned to her old training hub at the University of Florida.
A year ago, she was noncommittal about her future, preferring to focus on the 2025 world championships in Singapore. She came back from that competition with her 10th medal at a long-course worlds and decided she needed a break from the pool.
During that time, Masse trained and lifted weights on her own, and eventually dug up old practice routines from various coaches for when she was ready to dive back in.
“It was a different route,” Masse said. “It was challenging and confronting in certain ways, but it was what I needed.”
Masse, who earned a degree in Kinesiology at the University of Toronto, has watched some longtime teammates and Olympic roommates step away from the sport in recent years.
Olympic butterfly champion Maggie Mac Neil retired following the Paris 2024 Games, while relay bronze medallist Sydney Pickrem hung up her swimsuit in April.
But Masse expects to be back when the Summer Games arrive in Los Angeles — where the 50-metre backstroke has been added to the Olympic swimming competition at SoFi Stadium.
Masse won the 2022 world championship in the 50 backstroke and holds the 19th-fastest time at 27.13 seconds. On Monday night in Montreal, she swam to another Canadian title in a season-best 27.35.
“It’s super exciting for me personally,” she said. “I’ve been in this world and on the international stage for the last 10 years, so to have something like the 50 to focus on towards the end of my career, it’s a fun, fast sprint event and it’s really inspiring to see so many international men and women focusing on the 50.
“It’s inspired me and motivated me, so I hope to emulate that over the next few years and just see what I can put together, hopefully leading into L.A.”
Masse will be chasing the podium at a fourth Olympics after her 200 backstroke bronze in Paris made her the first Canadian swimmer to earn a medal in three consecutive Games.
John Atkinson, Swimming Canada’s high-performance director, is certainly happy to know one of the nation’s most consistent athletes is on board.
“You look at the accomplishments that Kylie Masse has had, and (she’s) won a medal at every major championship and Games since 2015,” he said. “Very, very few athletes have had that longevity in the sport, and she’s a wonderful athlete.”
Masse will wrap up her Canadian trials with the 200 backstroke on Thursday at the Olympic pool.
She’ll then lead Canada’s swimming contingent into the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow from July 23 to Aug. 2, opting out of the Pan Pacific Championships later this summer, before gearing up for a 2027 season that includes the world championships in Budapest.
“She’ll then get back, be able to have some sort of a period to gather herself, take some time away and then commit to be back in September, because 2027 will be a big push for everybody,” Atkinson said. “It’s a well-thought-out plan that she’s got, and we’re fully on board.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 8, 2026.
Daniel Rainbird, The Canadian Press
