Kylie Masse Hits 2:09.16 Meet Record On Day 1 Of 2024 Acropolis Open

By Retta Race on SwimSwam

2024 ACROPOLIS OPEN

• Friday, April 26th – Sunday, April 28th
• Athens Olympic Aquatic Center, Athens, Greece
• LCM (50m)
• Olympic Qualification Event
• Prize $ Breakdown
• Live Results

The 2024 Acropolis Open kicked off today from Athens with swimmers representing the host nation competing against swimmers from the Netherlands, Canada, Turkey and beyond.

The 3-day competition is World Aquatics-approved as an Olympic qualifying event while cash is also on the line for athelts who can get to the wall first.

29-year-old Kylie Masse of Canada established a new meet record en route to grabbing gold in the women’s 200m back.

The 2020 Olympic Games multi-medalist stopped the clock at 2:09.16 to hold a healthy advantage over the next-closest swimmer Africa Zamorano of Spain.

Zamorano touched in 2:10.92 while Turkey’s Sudeb Denizli rounded out the podium in 2:13.47.

Masse’s result dipped under the World Aquatics Olympic Qualification Timie of 2:10.39 needed for Paris, although she’ll need to put up this caliber of performance at the Canadian Olympic Trials in June.

At the Spanish Open in February, Masse put up a season-best of 2:08.44 in this 2back event to rank 14th in the world on the season.

The men’s 200m back saw winner Apostolos Siskos come oh-so-close to Paris qualification as he earned the gold.

Sisko touched in 1:57.51, falling only .01 shy of the OQT of 1:57.50. The good news is that Siskos had already nabbed an OQT, courtesy of the 1:56.64 lifetime best he posted in the prelims of the event at this year’s World Championships. There in Doha, he ultimately placed 6th in that same time.

Apostolos Christou was right behind Siskos tonight in 1:57.59 while 100m back world record holder Thomas Ceccon of Italy bagged the bronze in 1:57.65.

Additional Notes

• Dutch ace Kira Toussiant led a trio of 55-point women’s 100m freestylers with the Olympian logging 55.02 as the gold medalist. Cypriot Kalia Antoniou was net to the wall in 55.03 and Italy’s newly-minted 50m freestyle national record holder Sara Curtis earned the bronze in 55.334.
• Alba Vazquez Ruiz of Spain took the women’s 400m IM by 3 seconds, clocking 4:42.04 for the victory.
• Turkey’s Berkay Ogretir scored the sole time of the men’s 100m breast field under the minute barrier. Ogretir posted 59.70 (27.86/31.84) to get it done for gold.

SwimSwam: Kylie Masse Hits 2:09.16 Meet Record On Day 1 Of 2024 Acropolis Open