FLASH! Josh Liendo Blasts Stunning World Record in 100 Butterfly in Toronto
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.
And 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.
