Canadian swimmers Josh Landau and Elia Kharon qualify for the 100m butterfly final
A pair of Canadians advanced to the final in the men’s 100-metre butterfly at the swimming world championships after strong semifinal swims on Friday in Singapore.
Toronto’s Josh Liendo and Montreal’s Ilya Kharun qualified second and fourth overall, respectively.
Liendo, who took silver in the event at Paris 2024, clocked a time of 50.24 seconds to finish second in the second semifinal behind Switzerland’s Noe Ponti (50.18).
The 22-year-old Liendo was sixth at the turn before surging down the stretch and nearly catching Ponti.
“I’ve got to send that first 50 tomorrow; that’ll be the plan.” Liendo told CBC Sports’ Devin Heroux after the semifinals.Kharun, 20, finished second in the first semifinal in 50.39, just behind France’s Maxime Grousset (50.25).
“I’m putting everything on the line here for this event. I wanted to win but this is a pretty good step towards winning,” said Kharun, who finished fourth in the 200 butterfly and narrowly missed qualifying for the 50 fly final.
Kharun claimed Olympic bronze in both the 100- and 200 butterfly in Paris.
The final is scheduled for Saturday at 7:43 a.m. ET.
