Canadian swimmer Josh Liendo units short-course world report in 100-metre butterfly

TORONTO — Canadian Josh Liendo set a short-course world report within the males’s 100-metre butterfly Thursday within the third and ultimate leg of the World Aquatics Swimming World Cup.

The 23-year-old from Toronto was clocked in 47.68 seconds, erasing the earlier mark of 47.71 set by Switzerland’s Noe Ponti.

“I wasn’t expecting that at all,” mentioned a beaming Liendo.

But that modified within the water.

“Off the start I knew I was having a good swim,” he mentioned. “From there I didn’t look back … I’m super-happy. I just thought I’d come in, have fun and race. Just to have that result is a cherry on top.”

Liendo slammed his fists within the water in delight when he noticed his time.

“I saw world record. I would have been happy if it said 48 (seconds) up there,” he mentioned with fun. “That’s when I slapped the water.”

He earned US$12,500 for the swim, together with $10,000 for the world report, earlier than a loud and proud crowd on the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre.

“The crowd got me hyped up … It just hyped me up too,” he mentioned.

Later within the night, he received the 50-metre freestyle in a World Cup report of 20.31.

Liendo received silver within the 100 butterfly on the Paris Olympics, changing into the primary Black Canadian swimmer to assert an Olympic medal. He was named Swimming Canada’s Male Swimmer of the Year in 2024.

Ilya Kharun, a 20-year-old from Montreal who received bronze within the 100 and 200 butterfly on the Paris Olympics, was second in Thursday’s 100 butterfly in 48.35. Ponti, who received the 2 earlier World Cup stops, was third in 48.38.

Hungary’s Hubert Kos additionally set a world report within the males’s 200-metre backstroke, profitable in 1:45.12, erasing the report of1:45.63 held by Australian Mitchell Larkin.

The competitors runs although Saturday. The short-course 25-metre collection (the Olympic pool is 50 metres), whose first two stops have been in Carmel, Ind. and Westmont, Ill., encompasses a whole purse of $1.2 million.

Canadian star Summer McIntosh isn’t collaborating within the collection, citing sickness.

Kos, Americans Regan Smith, Gretchen Walsh, Kate Douglass and Shane Casas, Australians Lani Pallister and Kaylee McKeown and Poland’s Katarzyna Wasick accomplished a sweep of their occasions, every gathering a cheque for $10,000 and a crown.

McKeown received the ladies’s 50-metre backstroke in a World Cup report of 25.35, beating a stacked discipline that featured 32 Olympic medals. Five-time Olympic medallist Kylie Masse of LaSalle, Ont., was fourth in 25.69.

“I’m really proud, honestly,” Masse mentioned of her efficiency. “It would have been amazing to be on the podium there. I’m definitely a little bit sad that I wasn’t able to do that. I kind of messed up my touch a little bit. But overall, that’s really close to my personal best.”

Masse has been coaching on her personal the final month, “just really trying to figure things out right now, in life and in swimming.”

Pallister cruised to victory within the girls’s 400 freestyle in 3:51.87, erasing her personal World Cup report of three:52.42. McIntosh holds the world report of three:50.25.

“Pretty happy with a 3:51,” mentioned Pallister, who had dinner atop the CN Tower with Canadian swimmer Javier Carlos Acevedo whereas in Toronto. “I mean I’d like to be under 3:50 eventually but we’ll see where that event takes me in the future.”

It was her third win in a row on the World Cup, netting her a crown and $10,000.

“It’s a little bit of fun. I think the crown’s a bit of a novelty,” Pallister mentioned. “But it’s just really exciting having consistent racing three weeks in a row.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first printed Oct. 23, 2025

Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press