VICTORIA – Kylie Masse had a blistering start in Thursday morning’s preliminaries during the opening day of the 2017 Team Canada Trials.

The Olympic bronze medallist heads into tonight’s finals having recorded the fifth-fastest time ever in the women’s 100-metre backstroke. Masse was timed in 58.42 in the preliminaries, breaking the Canadian record of 58.66 set in the medley relay at last summer’s Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

Masse’s time was faster than Hungarian Katinka Hosszu’s gold medal time of 58.45 from Rio. It is the fastest time in the world so far this year, is just .30 off the world record held by Gemma Spofforth of Great Britain and .09 away from the Americas record held by Missy Franklin of the United States.

“I definitely wasn’t expecting to see that,” said Masse, 21, a Windsor, Ont., native who now lives in Toronto. “It was one of those races where everything lined up. My turn, I executed pretty well and my touch came in the right time.

“I know how hard I have been working throughout training and stuff. I was just really trying to focus on what I have been working on this whole year.”

Hilary Caldwell of the High Performance Centre – Victoria was second in one minute, 0.62 seconds. Dominique Bouchard of Oakville, Ont., was third in 1:00.74.

The trials, which end Sunday, have attracted over 400 swimmers to Saanich Commonwealth Place looking to earn a spot on the Canadian team that will compete at the FINA World Championships July 14-30 in Budapest.

Preliminary heats begin at 10 a.m. each day, with finals set for 6 p.m. All sessions will we webcast live on CBC Sports at http://www.cbc.ca/sports/olympics/summer/aquatics/canadian-swimming-trials-stream-1.4054804.

Olympic medallists Penny Oleksiak and Katerine Savard also advanced to tonight’s finals.

Oleksiak, the teenaged sensation who won four medals in Rio, had the fastest time in the 50-m butterfly. The 16-year-old from Toronto, who swims for the High Performance Centre – Ontario, was timed in 26.40 seconds.

Sadie Fazekas of Windsor, Ont., was second in 26.96 while Sandrine Mainville of Boucherville, Que., who swims for CAMO was third in 27.04.

Savard, of Montreal, led the 200-m freestyle in one minute, 58.29 seconds.

“It was pretty good,” said Savard, who was part of the bronze-medal winning 4×200-m freestyle relay in Rio.

“I had a pretty good summer. I am trying to build on that and keep that moment through this year to see what I can do.”

Seven of the eight finalists swam under two minutes. MacKenzie Padington of the Island Swimming Club came second in 1:58.39 while Kayla Sanchez of Toronto, who trains at the High Performance Centre-Ontario, was third in 1:58.44.

Victoria’s Jeremy Bagshaw led the men’s 200-m freestyle in 1:49.62.

“It’s always good to get the first swim out of the way,” said Bagshaw, who swims for the Island Swimming Club. “It’s good to get the nerves out. I’m pretty happy with how it went this morning.”

Carson Olafson of Cultus Lake, B.C, was second in 1:49.72 while Markus Thormeyer, of the High Performance Centre – Vancouver, was third in 1:49.96.

Kierra Smith of Kelowna, B.C., led the 200-m breaststroke in 2:25.96. Ashley McGregor of the Pointe-Claire Swim Club was second in 2:26.47 followed by Kelsey Wog of the University of Manitoba in 2:28.53.

Vancouver’s James Dergousoff had the top time of 2:13.32 in the 200-m breaststroke. Eli Wall of Ottawa was second in 2:14.06 with Ryan Telford of Whitby, Ont., third in 2:14.61.

Olympian Javier Acevedo of Scarborough, Ont., topped the 100-m backstroke preliminaries in 54.70 seconds, followed by Rob Hill of Chena Swim Club in 55.32 and Anton Loncar of Croatia in 55.52.

Kyle Robrock of the University of Denver had the fastest time in the men’s 50-m butterfly in 24.39. Matthew Dans of Ottawa was second in 24.57 while Alexandre Perreault of the Ottawa Swim Club was third in 24.68.

Among the races tonight will be the timed finals in the women’s 1,500-m freestyle and the men’s 800-m freestyle. These races and the 50-m butterfly events are not selection events for the world championship team.