FLASH! Josh Liendo Blasts Stunning World Record in 100 Butterfly in Toronto, Doubles With 50 Free Victory
Midway through the first finals session of the Toronto World Cup, Josh Liendo recorded what might go down as one of the all-time great performances by a Canadian male swimmer. Liendo, a frequent global medalist in the 100 butterfly over recent years, became a world-record holder for the first time in his career with an incredible mark of 47.68 in the short course meters version of the event.
The swim came, in Liendo’s words, out of nowhere. Through the first two World Cup meets, Liendo was an also-ran in this event as Switzerland’s Noè Ponti took wins over Canadian Ilya Kharun. Liendo was fourth in Carmel and third in Westmont, but he dropped almost two seconds from his time six days earlier to pull the upset. Liendo’s time of 47.68 was three hundredths quicker than the 47.71 that Ponti swam on the way to gold at last year’s Short Course World Championships.
In another thrilling result for the home crowd, Canada finished 1-2 as Kharun took second in 48.35, three hundredths ahead of Ponti’s 48.38. Ponti had been going for the World Cup crown in the event, but the Canadians beat him to the finish while claiming his previous global mark.
And Liendo was not done for the evening. Less than a half-hour after his world record, Liendo returned to race the 50 free and emerged with another victory, again in record time as he swam the quickest mark ever on the World Cup circuit. Liendo clocked 20.31, surpassing the 2018 series mark of 20.48 held by Vladimir Morozov. In that final, Liendo was first to the wall and extended his margin coming home to win by almost four tenths.
American Jack Alexy swam his fastest time of the circuit but still finished second here in 20.70. Kharun, previously the winner in Westmont, got his second top-three finish of the night in 20.73, with Carmel winner Chris Guiliano ending up fourth (20.86).
