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Turkish butterfly specialist Aykut Mert Iravul is taking his talents to Harvard University this fall.
Iravul broke two minutes in the 200-meter butterfly for this first time last summer at the European Junior Championships, where he posted a personal-best 1:59.96 in prelims before placing 7th in the final (2:01.75). He made the 200-meter fly semifinals at the World Junior Championships in September, placing 14th in 2:01.07.
At 17 years old, Iravul is only about a second off the Turkish national record in the LCM 200 fly, a 1:58.21 that Polat Turnali clocked at the European U-23 Championships in August.
“I’m very excited to announce that I will continue my academic and athletic career at Harvard,” Iravul said. “I would like to express my gratitude to my family, coaches, and teachers for supporting me throughout this journey and my special thanks to Coach Kevin and Coach Dan for making this possible. Can’t wait for next year. Go Crimson!!!”
Best LCM Times (Converted to SCY)
- 200 fly – 1:59.96 (1:45.54)
- 100 fly – 56.76 (49.87)
- 50 fly – 26.56 (23.29)
- 400 IM – 4:30.71 (3:58.11)
- 200 back – 2:05.36 (1:50.77)
Iravul’s best converted times would have made the B-final of the 200 fly at the 2023 Ivy League Championships as well as the C-final of 200 back and 400 IM. The Harvard men won their sixth consecutive Ivy League title last year with 1,545 points ahead of Princeton’s 1,433.5 in head coach Kevin Tyrrell‘s 10th season at the helm of the Crimson program.
Iravul joins sprinter Marre Gattnar, backstroker Adriano Arioti, versatile IMer Eric Lee, versatile IMer Richard Poplawski, breaststroker Joshua Chen, and diver William Sullivan in the Harvard’s 2024 recruiting class. There are no Turkish swimmers on the Crimson’s roster this season, but Istanbul native Umitcan Gures captured Ivy League titles in the 50 free and 100 fly last year in his final NCAA campaign.
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