Canada at the 2025 AQUA World Aquatics Championships

[Topicmaster1010 5,760]

28 minutes ago, orangeman said:

I don't know what the answer is with Liendo, but he didn't look good in the 50 butterfly or the 100 free, either. He's fine (not outstanding yet) in the 100 fly. On the flip side, he was outstanding in the mixed relay. 

Actually, he broke his PB twice in the 50 fly. He's just never been good in this event for long course. And his 47.08 100 free relay split is also his best ever I think. He was coming off being sick and untapered for trials which is why he was slow there.

[orangeman 2,344]

For "fun" I decided to look up Masse's placements at the last two full World Championships as well as the last Olympics. Including relays, she has six 4th places finishes and two 5ths. In that time she has 3 bronzes. 

 

This is not a knock at all to Kylie. It just sucks that right when she came into her prime two of the best backstrokers ever emerged, too. Kylie broke the super-suited 100m WR that stood for 8 years, and only a year later someone else broke it. Even though she's gone faster since then, and is the 3rd fastest competitor ever, her time is 25th on the list. McKeown and Smith hold all 24 times ahead of hers. 

 

It's sort of like the Locke/Phelps situation. If Phelps wasn't around, Locke would have been the best swimmer in the world at that time, but was completely overshadowed. Masse was just unlucky to be the best backstroker to come in a decade, just as two better ones also came onto the scene. And then there always seems to be one more at each distance that jumps ahead for one championship. Can't really blame the relays on her, as she's consistently the strongest part of the ones she participates in. I just can't see her take another 4th. The medley relay either needs to medal or crash out. 

[Topicmaster1010 5,760]

On The Ready Room podcast, Devin Heroux seemed to be implying that Liendo wasn't trying in the 50 free. Josh told him that he's all in on the 100 fly.

 

But that does beg the question of why not just scratch instead.

 

A similar comparison could be Pan Zhanle who is always entered in the 200 free but clearly always sandbags prelims since he always posts excellent splits on prelims. Might just be the coaches decision or they just want to have a practice swim.

 

Another interesting thing with Liendo is that his first 50 of the 100 fly seems to be slower than usual. I remember in Paris he was first at the wall. Hopefully that's not a sign of things to come. He also mentioned to Devin that he plans to attack the first 50 more tomorrow so fingers crossed.

[Topicmaster1010 5,760]

So prelims of the 4x100 mixed freestyle relay is

 

Gaziev -> Sauve -> Douthwright -> Harvey.

 

I hope that means Harvey's shoulder is fine.

[JoshMartini007 2,813]

1 hour ago, orangeman said:

For "fun" I decided to look up Masse's placements at the last two full World Championships as well as the last Olympics. Including relays, she has six 4th places finishes and two 5ths. In that time she has 3 bronzes. 

 

This is not a knock at all to Kylie. It just sucks that right when she came into her prime two of the best backstrokers ever emerged, too. Kylie broke the super-suited 100m WR that stood for 8 years, and only a year later someone else broke it. Even though she's gone faster since then, and is the 3rd fastest competitor ever, her time is 25th on the list. McKeown and Smith hold all 24 times ahead of hers. 

 

It's sort of like the Locke/Phelps situation. If Phelps wasn't around, Locke would have been the best swimmer in the world at that time, but was completely overshadowed. Masse was just unlucky to be the best backstroker to come in a decade, just as two better ones also came onto the scene. And then there always seems to be one more at each distance that jumps ahead for one championship. Can't really blame the relays on her, as she's consistently the strongest part of the ones she participates in. I just can't see her take another 4th. The medley relay either needs to medal or crash out. 

I sometimes wonder how history will treat her. Very few Canadians have won individual Olympic medals at three Olympics, but I feel very few people will remember her. She rarely made huge headlines, but was always there putting up great result after great result for a decade now.

 

I'll always remember her, but that's because the backstroke was also my stroke.

[orangeman 2,344]

2 minutes ago, JoshMartini007 said:

I sometimes wonder how history will treat her. Very few Canadians have won individual Olympic medals at three Olympics, but I feel very few people will remember her. She rarely made huge headlines, but was always there putting up great result after great result for a decade now.

 

I'll always remember her, but that's because the backstroke was also my stroke.

I feel like history is unkind to you if you've never won an Olympic gold. But I also think it'll depend on where Canada's swimming goes from here. If 2016-2024? ends up being the Golden Age, she'll be a huge part of that. But being around with Penny, and then Summer, she's definitely overshadowed overall (not to mention Maggie). If Canada continues to develop its young swimmers, she may be lost. Which is unfortunate. Her performance in Rio was great, but if she was just a year ahead of her development, she probably would have gotten gold (and maybe a medal in the medley relay). Like I said, just unlucky timing. 

[Surlympics 1,292]

1 hour ago, Topicmaster1010 said:

On The Ready Room podcast, Devin Heroux seemed to be implying that Liendo wasn't trying in the 50 free. Josh told him that he's all in on the 100 fly.

 

But that does beg the question of why not just scratch instead.

 

A similar comparison could be Pan Zhanle who is always entered in the 200 free but clearly always sandbags prelims since he always posts excellent splits on prelims. Might just be the coaches decision or they just want to have a practice swim.

 

Another interesting thing with Liendo is that his first 50 of the 100 fly seems to be slower than usual. I remember in Paris he was first at the wall. Hopefully that's not a sign of things to come. He also mentioned to Devin that he plans to attack the first 50 more tomorrow so fingers crossed.

Yes exactly, he wasn’t trying in the 50 free because he’s saving it all for the 100 fly and medley relay

[orangeman 2,344]

Canada sneaks into the final of the mixed relay by 0.02 seconds. It was really close all around (besides the USA). 0.75 separated 2nd to 9th.  Wonder if they go for it with Ruck and (probably not) Liendo.  Aus, GB, Hungary, China and Sweden out. 

Edited August 2, 2025 by orangeman

[intoronto 6,641]

2 minutes ago, orangeman said:

Canada sneaks into the final of the mixed relay by 0.02 seconds. It was really close all around (besides the USA). 0.75 separated 2nd to 9th.  Wonder if they go for it with Ruck and (probably not) Liendo.  

Ruck also has the 50 free semis.

 

It would be risky, but bringing in both could push Canada into medal territory

[Josh 11,972]

2 hours ago, Topicmaster1010 said:

On The Ready Room podcast, Devin Heroux seemed to be implying that Liendo wasn't trying in the 50 free. Josh told him that he's all in on the 100 fly.

 

But that does beg the question of why not just scratch instead.

 

A similar comparison could be Pan Zhanle who is always entered in the 200 free but clearly always sandbags prelims since he always posts excellent splits on prelims. Might just be the coaches decision or they just want to have a practice swim.

 

Another interesting thing with Liendo is that his first 50 of the 100 fly seems to be slower than usual. I remember in Paris he was first at the wall. Hopefully that's not a sign of things to come. He also mentioned to Devin that he plans to attack the first 50 more tomorrow so fingers crossed.

Didn’t even know that the ready room podcast was a thing 

 

Thanks for the clarification