For the first time since the 1976 Montreal Olympics, Canada has won two medals in a single event at the Summer Games.
Josh Liendo captured silver and Ilya Kharun took bronze on Saturday in the men’s 100-metre butterfly at Paris 2024.
“We were talking and I was like ‘Dude I feel like if you get 50.4 you can make the podium’ and yeah, he locked in, did really good,” Liendo told reporters, per the Canadian Olympic Committee. “To see him get on there was awesome. He really stepped up in the moment.”
Hungary’s Kristof Milak rallied in the second lap to beat Liendo by .09 seconds for gold.
Kharun was .55 seconds back.
“Me and Josh talked about this moment a few days ago. I’m so happy we got this done,” Kharun told CBC Olympics.
“… It’s so great to be on the podium with him.”
Cheryl Gibson and Becky Wiber won silver and bronze, respectively, for Canada in the Olympic 400-metre individual medley in 1976 in Montreal.
It was Kharun’s second medal of the meet after he took bronze in the 200-metre butterfly. That medal was Canada’s first in trip to the Olympic podium in men’s swimming since 2012.
Liendo just missed a medal on Friday, finishing fourth in the 50-metre freestyle.
“It feels good,” Liendo told reporters, per the Canadian Olympic Committee. “Like I said I just missed the podium on the 50-free and I just wanted to use that as fuel for that 100-fly.”
Canada got to 14 medals with the swim double and then made it 15 a half-hour later when Summer McIntosh added another gold in the pool.
Liendo, who won silver in this event at last year’s world championships, had the third-best time in the semifinals while Kharun was sixth.
“I think that’s a huge momentum shift on the men’s side,” Liendo said, per the Canadian Olympic Committee. “It’s just exciting. We made a big statement there.”