Josh Liendo arrived at Pan Am Sports Centre on Thursday with many fond memories of his hometown pool.
It’s where the 23-year-old set his first Canadian record in 2017, where he made his first Olympic team a few years later and where the Toronto swimmer boasts several national marks.
It’s also where Liendo set a short course world record in the men’s 100-metre butterfly on Thursday evening. His winning time of 47.68 seconds eclipsed the previous mark of 47.71 by Switzerland’s Noe Ponti, who was third on this night in 48.38.
Liendo, who added a second gold-medal performance later in evening in the men’s 50 freestyle, told Devin Heroux of CBC Sports he couldn’t have imagined setting a world mark in the third and final leg of the World Aquatics Swimming World Cup.
“I would have been happy if I saw 48 [seconds] up on the board. Seeing that world record [time] I kinda just went nuts,” said Liendo, who pounded a clenched left fist into the water seconds after the race.
“This pool’s awesome, the crowd’s awesome, so I guess that helped pull me along.”
Toronto’s Josh Liendo wins the men’s 100-metre butterfly final with a world record time of 47.68 at the World Aquatics Swimming World Cup 2025 stop in Toronto. Montreal’s Ilya Kharun finishes second to capture the silver medal.
The two-time Olympian earned $12,500 for his achievement, including $10,000 for the world record.
In the crowd was Liendo’s mom, aunt, uncle and former chiropractor.
“Everyone came tonight,” he added, “so I was happy I could put on a show for them.”
Iyla Kharun of Montreal, who earned 2024 Olympic bronze in the 100 and 200 fly, captured silver in Toronto. He held the previous Canadian record of 49-flat and went 48.35 on Thursday.
1st Black Canadian swimmer to win Olympic medal
Later, the six-foot-four Liendo clocked 20.31 in the 50 free for a World Cup record, beating American Jack Alexy by 39-100ths of a second. Kharun earned bronze (20.73).
Toronto’s Josh Liendo wins the men’s 50-metre butterfly final with a World Cup record time of 20.31 at the World Aquatics Swimming World Cup 2025 stop in Toronto. Montreal’s Ilya Kharun finishes third to claim the bronze medal.
Kharun held bragging rights over Lieno in the 100 fly recently, leading their 1-2 finish in June at the Canadian swimming trials in Victoria, and grabbed bronze at the World Aquatics Championships two months later in Singapore, where Liendo was fourth.
Last year in Paris, Liendo captured silver to become the first Black Canadian swimmer to win an Olympic medal and was named Swimming Canada’s male swimmer of the year.
In Paris, he and bronze medallist Kharun were the first Canadian men to reach the podium in the 100 fly since Bruce Robertson’s silver in Munich in 1972.
Competition runs through Saturday. Live streaming coverage is available Friday and Saturday at CBC Sports and CBC Gem, each day at 10 a.m. ET (preliminaries) and 6 p.m. (finals).
In other events Thursday, Hungary’s Hubert Kos also set a world record in the men’s 200 backstroke, winning in 1:45.12, erasing the record of 1:45.63 held by Australian Mitchell Larkin.
Canadian star Summer McIntosh is not taking part in the series, citing illness.
Americans Regan Smith, Gretchen Walsh, Kate Douglass and Shane Casas, Australians Lani Pallister and Kaylee McKeown, Poland’s Katarzyna Wasick and Kos completed a sweep of their events, each collecting a cheque for $10,000 and a crown.
McKeown won the women’s 50 backstroke in a World Cup record of 25.35, beating a stacked field 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 said of her performance. “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 training on her own the last month, “just really trying to figure things out right now, in life and in swimming.”
Taylor Ruck of Kelowna, B.C., breaks down finishing second in the women’s 50-metre freestyle final at the World Aquatics Swimming World Cup 2025 stop in Toronto.
