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Josh Liendo Splits 42.77 on Florida’s record-setting 400 Medley Relay, Fastest Ever

Braden Keith
by Braden Keith 6

February 23rd, 2024 College, News, SEC

2024 SEC SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

For the second consecutive season, University of Florida sophomore Josh Liendo has swum the fastest-ever medley relay split in the 100 butterfly.

Liendo split 42.77 on the butterfly leg of Florida’s SEC Title winning 400 medley relay on Friday evening. That undercuts his 42.91 from last year’s NCAA Championship meet where Florida also won.

Fastest 100 Fly Splits – 400 Medley Relay

  1. Josh Liendo, Florida – 42.77 (2024 SEC Championships)
  2. Josh Liendo, Florida – 42.91 (2023 NCAA Championships)
  3. Joseph Schooling, Texas – 43.34 (2016 NCAA Championships)
  4. Ilya Kharun, Arizona State – 43.35 (2023 NC State/GAC Invitational)
  5. Tom Shields, Cal – 43.48 (2013 NCAA Championships)
  6. Austin Staab, Stanford – 43.55 (2009 NCAA Championships)
  7. Andrei Minakov, Stanford – 43.58 (2022 NCAA Championships)

The elephant in the room is Caeleb Dressel‘s 42.80 flat-start in the 100 yard fly that stands as the fastest ever. Because Dressel’s flat start is so good, he doesn’t usually get the same boost as other swimmers do from a relay exchange, but the reality is that he rarely swam the butterfly leg on Florida’s medleys.

As a senior in 2018, for example, he swam the breaststroke leg on Florida’s 5th-place medley relay at NCAAs. He swam fly at the 2017 NCAA Championships, but only split 44.33. As a sophomore, he was again the breaststroker. His overlap with Jan Switkowski in an era where Florida didn’t have a lot of great sprinters meant that Switkowski usually took butterfly duties while Dressel filled in another leg.

Liendo, meanwhile, seems to get as much of a boost from his relay exchanges as anyone. He won the 100 fly on Thursday in 43.98 after a Meet Record of 43.89 in prelims. At last year’s NCAA Championships, he was 43.40 for 2nd place in the individual 100 fly final.

This win is Liendo’s fourth of the meet. He also swam on the winning 800 free relay, 200 free relay, and the 100 fly individually. He was 3rd in the 50 free and has the 100 free and probably the 400 free relay remaining on Saturday.

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the deep end
8 months ago

rowdy thought it was 43.7 and i kept waiting for him to realize his mistake

Sweet Sweet Peter Rosen
8 months ago

CD 42.8 flat start still the gold standard

Andrew
Reply to  Sweet Sweet Peter Rosen
8 months ago

obviously

Liendo’s relay start is absolutely filthy and easily gives him a second advantage compared to a flat start. Dude jumps past the flags…

Jeb
Reply to  Sweet Sweet Peter Rosen
8 months ago

Both can be good

Spieker Pool Lap Swimmer
8 months ago

Fixed.

Last edited 8 months ago by Spieker Pool Lap Swimmer
Jan Zubik’s 2nd Biggest Fan
8 months ago

Jan zubik better.

Last edited 8 months ago by Jan Zubik’s 2nd Biggest Fan

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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