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Ilya Kharun Crushes Canadian Record in 200 Fly By Almost 2 Seconds

2023 PRO SWIM SERIES – FORT LAUDERDALE

Canadian 18-year-old Ilya Kharun knocked-off the Canadian Record in the 200-meter butterfly on Thursday, swimming 1:54.49 to win the event at the Pro Swim Series in Fort Lauderdale.

That breaks the old record of 1:56.27 set by Mack Darragh in 2018 at the Pan Pac Championships. Darragh was on the front edge of the current rise of Canadian swimming over the last half-decade, but Kharun whacked his best time by 1.8 seconds.

Kharun’s personal previous best was a 1:56.66 at last summer’s US National Championships. In that same time period, he has dropped 9 seconds off his previous best time in yards, so he was due for a best time in long course too.

Splits Comparison:

Ilya Kharun Mack Darragh Ilya Kharun
New Canadian Record Old Canadian Record
Former Personal Best
50m 26.04 25.88 25.70
100m 29.25 29.32 29.90
150m 29.54 30.11 30.64
200m 29.66 30.96 30.42
Final Time 1:54.49 1:56.27 1:56.66

Kharun is now ranked 2nd in the world this season in the event behind only Japan’s Tomoru Honda (1:52.70).

2022-2023 LCM Men 200 Fly

LeonFRA
Marchand
07/26
1:52.43
2Kristof
Milak
HUN1:52.5804/20
3Tomoru
Honda
JPN1:52.7012/03
4Krzysztof
Chmielewski
POL1:53.6207/26
5Thomas
Heilman
USA1:53.8207/26
View Top 26»

That time also would have placed him 5th at last year’s World Championships, behind Kristof Milak, Leon Marchand, Tomoru Honda, and Noe Ponti.

Kharun trains in the U.S. with the Sandpipers of Nevada in Las Vegas. He was originally named to last summer’s US team for Junior Pan Pacs and held several US National Age Group Records before officials discovered that he was a Canadian citizen. He has represented Canada internationally since, including a silver medal in the 100 fly at December’s Short Course World Championships. He was also 8th in this 200 fly at that meet.

Kharun swam a best time on Wednesday for 7th in the 1500 free (15:37.71), dropping just over a second, and has remaining entries this week in the 200 free, 50 fly, 400 IM, 100 fly, and 50 free.

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STRAIGHTBLACKLINE
1 year ago

It’s not often we see male and female national records broken in the same event on the same day.

Steve Nolan
1 year ago

we can’t let canada get this one, too.

M Palota
1 year ago

If John Akitson takes credit for this kid, my head will explode.

Hella swim, of course. These kids are crushing it right now.

CanSwimFan
1 year ago

Ilya dropped big time at a meet where he is not even tapered, and swam a 1500 last night. Looking forward to seeing how fast he goes at Canadian Trials in four weeks!

Davide
Reply to  CanSwimFan
1 year ago

Are you sure he’s not tapered (at least in part)? That would suggest a 1.52 low in summer and it seems a bit much…

NUSwimFan
Reply to  Davide
1 year ago

With Canadian trials in 3 weeks, this is probably that pre-taper, sorta dialling it down meet where times are quick and getting close to a fully rested time

2Fat4Speed
Reply to  NUSwimFan
1 year ago

But does he even need to fully taper for Canadian Trials?

Chas
Reply to  NUSwimFan
1 year ago

Won’t he be maintaining for Open Water Nationals? lol

Ron weaves a very complex web.

Demarrit Steenbergen
1 year ago

And he hasn’t even started with bowman, the mid d master

Former Big10
Reply to  Demarrit Steenbergen
1 year ago

that training group is going to be insane..

Fluidg
1 year ago

Broke the Canadian record by about 1.8 seconds and his PR by 2.1.

Rswim
1 year ago

He absolutely bossed that last 50, what a great swim!

bob
Reply to  Rswim
1 year ago

He had more.He closed soooooooooooooooooo fast.

NANAKO
1 year ago

So regrettable that he did not set a new scm wjr for the 200fly in Melbourne last year.
Can he challenge Milak’s lcm 200fly wjr this year?

SwimmerFan99
Reply to  NANAKO
1 year ago

Most definitely; he has to merely cut .70 in 10 months, when he just cut 2.17 in 7 months. Keeping in mind, he just swum .70 off Milak’s WJR mid-season, presumably not fully tapered/shaved.

snailSpace
Reply to  SwimmerFan99
1 year ago

Milak’s best time at 18 yrs old was a 1:52:71 he swam in march at hungarian nationals in 2018, untapered. I have no idea why that isn’t the wjr, if you can swim wjrs at 18.

snailSpace
Reply to  NANAKO
1 year ago

He is already 18 isn’t he? Would it still count?

SwimmerFan99
Reply to  snailSpace
1 year ago

Yep! Male WJRs count at age 18; you just have to be 18 on the 31st of December the year the swum was done. Since Kharun’s birthday is in February, he has until December 31st 2023 to break WJRs.

snailSpace
Reply to  SwimmerFan99
1 year ago

Interesting… but I still don’t understand why Milak’s 1:52:71 isn’t the wjr. He was 18 when he swam it, and his birthday is – coincidentally – also in february.

SwimmerFan99
Reply to  snailSpace
1 year ago

Mhm in theory it certainly qualifies as per the rules, but it was never ratified by FINA; I’m not sure why.

EDIT: This is speculation, but looking into that 1:52.71 swim at the 2018 Hungarian Championships, it seems that his split at the 150m mark did not register in the timing system. That may be why it wasn’t ratified.

Last edited 1 year ago by SwimmerFan99
hafis
Reply to  SwimmerFan99
1 year ago

Didn’t Milak swim 1:52.79 at 2018 European Championships? That one wasn’t ratified either.

snailSpace
Reply to  hafis
1 year ago

Yep, he did. And it indeed was not ratified either, which is strange for euros.

Coco
Reply to  hafis
1 year ago

I remember there were timing pad issues at that meet, Peaty set a World record that wasn’t ratified I think because of those issues

snailSpace
Reply to  SwimmerFan99
1 year ago

That would be really strange, because it shows up in the FINA all time rankings, plus I’ve just watched back that race and and all his splits seemed to register. I think it might just be a documentation issue.

Katie
Reply to  SwimmerFan99
1 year ago

Did Hungary follow the WR rules for collecting first pass urine for the drug testing/use a lab with the right kinds of accreditation? Have the right documentation of the pool measurements/construction? There are so many administrative things that need to be lined up for WRs to count!

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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