Josh Liendo Shooting for Records and Three More Titles to Conclude Florida Career
Before he arrived in Gainesville, Josh Liendo was already an established force in global sprinting. In the previous 13 months, Liendo had been an Olympic semifinalist and then won four global-level individual medals, two in short course and two in long course. But it’s been during his time at the University of Florida that Liendo became a Canadian legend and one of the great college sprinters ever. More history could await the 23-year-old in his college finale.
Liendo has been the dominant 100 freestyler in each of his collegiate seasons. After capturing national titles in the event as a freshman and sophomore, his dominance was at risk in the 2025 season when rival Jordan Crooks became the fastest man in history in prelims at the NCAA Championships, lowering the long-standing NCAA and U.S. Open records held by Caeleb Dressel. Liendo responded at night as he came from behind to defeat Crooks by seven hundredths, going under 40 for the first time.
This season, Liendo will target the four-peat, the ultimate goal for any college swimmer that only Michigan’s Gustavo Borges has ever successfully completed, back in the 1990s. He could surely take down Crooks’ record, although his 100 free was not particularly strong at the SEC Championships as LSU’s Jere Hribar and Tennessee’s Gui Caribe posted enormous swims to take down Liendo in the final. However, Liendo did respond a bit later as he split 39.47 on Florida’s 400 free relay.
But it’s sprint butterfly where Liendo has made his biggest impact, particularly internationally. He reached the World Championships podium in the 100-meter fly in 2022 and 2023 before he broke through to the Olympic top-three at the Paris Games. Liendo went under 50 for the first time in his career in that final, setting a Canadian record and becoming just the 14th male swimmer from his country to ever win an individual Olympic medal. Moreover, a bronze from Ilya Kharun made it the first occasion that two Canadians won medals in the same race.
Josh Liendo — Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick
Butterfly also brought his first world record late last year as Liendo swam the fastest short course meters 100 fly ever at a World Cup stop in his hometown of Toronto, beating the mark held by Noè Ponti while scoring a head-to-head win against the Swiss swimmer who swept the event at both previous World Cup stops. Liendo’s time was 47.68, which converts to a yards time of 42.80. That is the exact number Dressel hit in the final meet of his college career.
The mark is one Liendo will be targeting next month in Atlanta. Currently, Liendo is the second-fastest performer in history, having gone 43.06 at last season’s NCAA Championships and again last week at the SEC Championships. History suggests he could drop the quarter-second required to reach record-setting territory in one month.
Liendo does not have the same record of success in the 50 free, owing in large part to the presence of Crooks for the past three seasons. But Liendo did knock off Crooks at the NCAA meet in 2024, and his best time of 18.07 ranks third all-time in the event. The record in this event is 17.63, another Dressel time from 2018, but this one is surely out of reach for Liendo or anyone else. Still, a trip under 18 seconds at the NCAA meet would be no surprise, and such an effort would make Liendo the third man to swim so fast after Dressel and Crooks.
Even with Crooks gone, the sprint events remain stacked with talent. Caribe and Hribar, his familiar rivals from the SEC, will be contenders at the national level while Kharun, who recently announced he was switching his sporting nationality to the United States, is an enormous threat in the 50 free and 100 fly. But Liendo enters as the favorite for all his individual races at the national meet, in position to add to a collection that already includes six national titles.
Additionally, Liendo has guided six Gator relays to first-place national finishes over the past three seasons, and more could be in the cards this year. During the SEC Championships, Liendo blistered a 17.58 anchor leg on his team’s 200 medley relay to lead his team to the fastest time in history. With Jonny Marshall, Koen de Groot and Scotty Buff in front of him, the Gators could achieve the first-ever 1:19 in the event at NCAAs. Liendo and his teammates enter among the favorites in the remaining 200 and 400-yard relays as well.
When the dust settles on this college season, Liendo’s résumé will rival every past college sprinter. Sweeping his individual races would match Dressel’s career total of nine individual national crowns, and if all goes well, Liendo could end up with one or more of Dressel’s records in his possession.