Josh Liendo wins silver, sets Canadian record in men's 100m butterfly
Fellow Canadian Kylie Masse 5th in women's 200m backstroke final
Canadian swimmer Josh Liendo won a silver medal and set a new Canadian record at the World Aquatics Championships on Saturday in Fukuoka, Japan.
The 20-year-old from Markham, a Toronto suburb, finished second in the 100-metre butterfly final in a time of 50.34 seconds.
Maxime Grousset, of France, took gold in 50.14, while American Dare Rose claimed bronze in 50.46. The 24-year-old Grousset took the early lead and held on for the victory.
Liendo won bronze at last year's worlds and is the reigning Commonwealth Games champion in the distance.
"It was awesome. Close race, had fun, it was a great field," Liendo told CBC Sports' Devin Heroux.
WATCH | Liendo claims silver in men's 100m butterfly:
Liendo noted he has work to do to prepare for the Paris Olympics next July.
"Obviously it's been a great meet," he said, "but still stuff to improve so that's a good thing. Just keep building from here."
Liendo had also qualified for the 50 freestyle final, but scratched to focus on the 100 fly.
"It was good," Liendo told Swimming Canada. "I wanted to focus on that event. I made a decision to go all in on the 100 fly and it paid off. I just trusted my race, trusted my strengths and also tried to work on stuff I thought were my weaknesses and it paid off."
WATCH | Liendo: 'Really fast field and I was happy to be part of it':
Liendo, who recently completed his first year at the University of Florida, says he's still learning at the international level.
"It's a new program this year, I keep reminding myself of that," he said. "There were things to get used to and I found I bounced back from the 100 free the first day with it not being where I wanted it to be. Today was just a great learning opportunity for me."
Kylie Masse, of LaSalle, Ont., finished fifth in the women's 200m backstroke final.
Australia's Kaylee McKeown won gold in 2:03.85, while American Reagan Smith (2:04.94) and China's Peng Xuwei (2:06.74) took silver and bronze, respectively.
Last 50 metres of backstroke 'tough' on Masse
Masse, who finished in 2:07.52, won silver in the event at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. The 27-year-old fell just short of the 100m backstroke podium in Fukuoka with a fourth-place finish in the final on Day 3.
"The last 50 was definitely tough but I put it all out there and that's all that I can ask for at the end of the day," said Masse, who has reached the final in 10 of 11 races in backstroke events over the last four worlds. "It's an incredible field and I knew that most likely the two girls would be out front. I just had to battle my way."
Masse, who was fourth in the 50 and 100 backstroke this week, is one of only two swimmers to reach all three women's back finals at two consecutive worlds. The other is Australian Emily Seebohm in 2015 and 2017.
"Obviously I'm far off my best times [this week] but keeping things in perspective I think it's a nice reminder," Masse said. ''I feel very honoured to be in the same category as Seebohm. She's someone that I looked up to for a number of years and was able to race and learn from."
McKeown's victory gave her a sweep of all three backstroke events here, after her earlier wins in the 50 and 100. She became the first swimmer ever to sweep all three backstrokes at the worlds.
McKeown took the lead at the final turn and steamed home in 2:03.85. She joined Leon Marchand of France and Qin Haiyang of China as swimmers who swept all three events in the same discipline at these worlds.
WATCH | Full coverage of Saturday's events from Fukuoka:
In the mixed 100 freestyle relay, Canada's Maggie Mac Neil, Mary-Sophie Harvey, Ruslan Gaziev and Liendo surged from sixth after the first leg to fourth in 3:23.82.
"It was my first time anchoring a relay, first time doing a mixed relay in the final,'' said Harvey. "If you had told me I was doing that a year ago, I would not have believed you, but a lot to learn from. I really like this race. I just started to do it and it's exciting for next year."
Mac Neil was satisfied with the result.
"Relays are always fun for me and when I finish [the competition] with the relays I find a little bit more energy," she said. "This felt like a really long meet so I'm happy with that. Fourth in the world is pretty good."
Liendo and Mac Neil stepped in for Javier Acevedo of Toronto and Taylor Ruck of Kelowna, B.C., who helped
qualify Canada for the final in the morning prelims, ranking fifth.
Australia stood atop the medal podium with a world record clocking of 3:18.83, followed by the United States (3:20.82) and Great Britain (European record 3:21.68).
Ledecky 1st to win 6 straight world titles in an event
Here's why Katie Ledecky is one of the greatest freestyle swimmers in the history of the sport. She's never quite satisfied.
The 26-year-old American won the 800-freestyle on Saturday to become the first swimmer to win six gold in the same event at the worlds. It was also her 16th individual world title, breaking a tie with legendary Michael Phelps for the most gold at worlds.
She's also a seven-time Olympic gold medallist and the record holder in both the 800 and 1,500.
But that winning time — eight minutes 08.87 seconds, which is the seventh quickest she'd even swum — wasn't quite good enough in her favourite event.
"I'm just always trying to think of new ways to improve. I mean I've already got everything turning in my head right now. I kind of wanted to be better than I was tonight," she said, twirling her right hand beside her right ear, trying to stir up ideas.
"I'm pretty tough on myself. But I think I have found the balance of being tough on myself but also having that grace."
The 800 was Ledecky's second individual gold following her win in the 1,500 free on Tuesday. She also took silver in the 400 free.
Li Bingjie of China claimed the silver in 8:13.31, with Ariarne Titmus of Australia took the bronze in 8:13.59.
WATCH | Ledecky collects 16th individual world gold medal:
Warm welcome for Ikee
Sarah Sjöström of Sweden continued her dominance with gold in the women's 50 butterfly. The 29-year-old won in 24.77 and has now won the event five consecutive times at the worlds. The win brought Sjöström's total individual medals at worlds to 20, matching Phelps.
Sjöström also broke her own record in the 50 freestyle, going 23.61 in a semifinal heat. Her old record was 23.67 set in 2017.
"There are not too many secrets," Sjöström said to her longevity. "Just do the work every day, go to practice, and stay humble."
WATCH | Sjöström ties Phelps with 20th individual world medal:
Zhang Yufei of China, who took gold in the 100 fly here, claimed the silver in 25.05, while American Gretchen Walsh got the bronze in 25.46.
Fan favourite Rikako Ikee of Japan finished seventh (25.78), but was greeted warmly by the home crowd. The 23-year-old Ikee won six gold at the 2018 Asian Games, but was diagnosed with leukemia in February of 2019. Her comeback continues to resonate with both the Japanese public and her fellow competitors.
Elsewhere, Cameron McEvoy of Australia led all the way to capture the gold in the men's 50 free in 21.06. It was his first individual gold in the worlds or Olympics.
Ruta Meilutyte of Lithuania tied the world record of 29.30 in her semifinal in the women's 50 breaststroke.
Live coverage of the World Aquatics Championships continues on CBCSports.ca, the CBC Sports app and CBC Gem.
WATCH | Meilutyte matches world mark in breaststroke semifinals:
With files from The Associated Press
