2018 TORONTO GRAND PRIX
- January 19th-20th, 2018
- University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- LCM (50m) course
- Meet Central
- Live Results
Kylie Masse finished her weekend at the Toronto Grand Prix with a 2:09.94, giving her a 5-second win over a mostly-junior field at the former Pan Am Games pool. That swim follows her 59.3 from a day earlier in the 100 back – an event in which she’s the World Record holder.
That swim, while not as close to her best time as the 100 was, still ranks higher in her personal bests. It’s her 10th-fastest time ever in the 200 – an event where she didn’t really develop into a global challenger until last year’s World Championship trials. She finished just 5th at Worlds in the event, but her 2:05.97 from the semi-finals made her the 3rd-fastest swimmer of the meet in the event.
The other big name at the meet, Penny Oleksiak, picked up two comfortable wins on Saturday. First she swam a 1:59.66 in the 200 free – the 3rd-fastest flat-start time of her career – and later won the 50 free in 25.76.
Oleksiak. the 2016 Olympic champion in the 100 free and silver medalist in the 100 fly, doesn’t swim the 200 free individually very often. In fact, she didn’t flat-start it even a single time in 2017, having scratched it at Worlds Trials, and has only once been under 1:59 when she swam a 1:57.5 t the 2016 Olympic Trials. She’s demonstrated her skill and value in the event, however, with a 1:54.94 relay split at the Rio Olympic Games. That was the 4th-best split of the final. She wasn’t included on the relay at the 2017 World Championships.
One other swim worth highlighting: Hannah Genich of the University of Toronto swam near her lifetime best in the 100 fly with a 1:00.24 to win that race. The Canadian USports (collegiate) championship will be held in this same pool in short course meters from February 22nd-24th.