Kylie Masse's mom says she knew Olympic swim was going to be 'a barn burner'

Swimmer Kylie Masse has once again landed on an Olympic podium.

The 25-year-old from LaSalle won silver in the 100-metre backstroke at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, after picking up bronze in Rio during the last summer Olympics.

Her mother, Cindy Masse, who joined CBC Radio's Windsor Morning Tuesday, said it was hard to put into words what watching the race on Monday night felt like.

"You want to child to do well, you kind of know the lay of the land a little bit, so... we knew it was going to be a barn burner," she said.

The event was indeed a close one, with Masse narrowly missing gold to Australia's Kaylee McKeown. McKeown set an Olympic record with a time of 57.47 seconds. Masse finished just behind at 57.72. American Regan Smith captured bronze with a time of 58.05.

"I upgraded from 2016, so I am really happy with that," said Kylie, whose Rio medal was in the same event.

"It was an incredibly challenging, talented field of athletes who have been swimming crazy times all year so I knew it was going to be a battle. I am proud to get on the podium tonight."

Cindy said she would have liked for her and her husband attend the Olympics in person to see their daughter, but with the pandemic, tuning in from home in LaSalle was the best option.

In the lead up to the event, Cindy said she tried to think of it as simply another swim meet so as not to become overwhelmed.

"So I guess you try to compartmentalize," she said.

Asked whether Kylie does the same, Cindy said she thought so.

"She's probably better at it than I am," she said with a laugh.

Masse will compete again this week in the 200-metre backstroke.