Josh Liendo, Ilya Kharun Hoping to Elevate Canadian Men to Olympic Podium
The last decade has brought a renaissance for Canadian women’s swimming, with an Olympic-medal-free streak of two decades ending in dramatic fashion at the 2016 Games in Rio and the momentum continuing to build from there. Two Canadian relays have won medals at each of the last Olympics while both Penny Oleksiak and Maggie Mac Neil have become individual Olympic gold medalists. Summer McIntosh seems poised to follow in their footsteps as she could achieve a huge haul at this year’s Games.
Canada’s men, on the other hand, were shut out from the podium in both Rio and Tokyo. In the 21st century, only five times have Canadian men captured top-three finishes at the Olympics: Curtis Myden took 400 IM bronze in 2000, and eight years later, Ryan Cochrane won the first of his two medals in the 1500 freestyle (bronze in 2008 and silver in 2012). Cochrane would conclude his career at the 2016 Games, placing sixth in the mile after watching his female teammates’ historic excellence all week. Also in 2012, Brent Hayden claimed 100 free bronze, and Richard Weinberger was third in the 10-kilometer open water race.
Could that drought end this year? We’ll find out more at next week’s Canadian Olympic & Paralympic Trials, but the team donning the red-and-white Maple Leaf is poised to have two potential stars on deck at this year’s Games.
Josh Liendo has already been a medalist on the highest level of the sport, claiming 100 free and 100 fly bronze at the 2022 World Championships before upgrading to silver in the 100 fly at last year’s meet. He is coming off a magnificent NCAA season at the University of Florida, where he captured individual NCAA titles in the 50-yard free, 100-yard fly and 100-yard free, becoming the second-fastest man ever behind current training partner Caeleb Dressel in both 100-yard races.
Liendo has already been to an Olympics, qualifying for the semifinals of the 100 free and 100 fly in Tokyo while racing in two relay finals, but the last three years have set him up to chase medals while also serving as the de facto standard-bearer for the Canadian men at only 21 years old. His best individual medal chance in Paris will likely come in the 100 fly, where his best time of 50.34 ranks No. 7 all-time. At Trials, we’ll see if Liendo can challenge the world’s current top time for 2024, a mark of 50.16 that Switzerland’s Noe Ponti notched last month.
Ilya Kharun — Photo Courtesy: Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
The other big name is Ilya Kharun, whose freshman season at Arizona State produced an NCAA title in the 200-yard fly as well as a national team title for the Sun Devils. Kharun, 19, nearly won a medal at last year’s Worlds, with his 29.15 closing 50 in the 200 fly final helping him move from eighth into a tie for fourth, less than two tenths off the podium. He has also captured a Short Course World Championships gold in the 100 fly earlier in his career.
Kharun will likely earn the chance to swim the 100 fly in Paris alongside Liendo, but his primary event is the four-lap distance, having set the Canadian record at 1:53.82 in that global final last July. Another sub-1:54 swim would position him nicely at this juncture, and we should note that the fastest time in the world currently belongs to Japan’s Tomoru Honda at 1:53.88.
These two men represent Canada’s best men’s medal shots at this year’s Olympics, but we cannot forget about Finlay Knox, the surprise world champion earlier this year in the 200 IM, while the country’s relays could move into the mix as well.
When the Canadian women emerged on the scene eight years ago, it came as a surprise to most of the swimming community, but thanks to the efforts of Liendo and Kharun in particular, we can clearly see how the Canadian men have positioned themselves for medal challenges at the biggest meets. If one or both of these swimmers can win medals in Paris, perhaps we will see that as the jumping-off point, just like Oleksiak’s success was for the women during the years after Rio.