Ilya Kharun took his international career to the next level in 2024, winning his first long-course senior international medals and establishing himself as a threat from the 50 to 200 butterfly on the global stage.
After a successful freshman campaign at Arizona State, winning the NCAA title in the 200 butterfly and helping the Sun Devils to the program's first NCAA title, Kharun turned his attention to long-course and the Olympic summer. Kharun had represented Canada on the international stage before. Still, Paris marked his debut Olympic Games, and he was looking to move up from his fourth-place finish in the 200 butterfly and ninth in the 200 butterfly at the 2023 World Championships.
The men's 200 butterfly was billed as a showdown between Kristof Milak, the world record holder and defending Olympic champion, and Leon Marchand, the 2023 world champion and home crowd favorite. The final in Paris lived up to that, but behind the battle for gold, Kharun was unshakeable in his first Olympic final. He was third for the entire race, calmly extending his lead for the final spot on the podium through the back half of the race.
Kharun was one of three men to split sub-30 seconds on the final 50 meters, and he used that closing speed to get his hands on the wall for bronze and his first medal at a long-course senior international meet on the sport's biggest stage. Not only was it Kharun's first major medal, it was the first Olympic medal earned by a Canadian man since 2012. He clocked 1:52.80, finishing third in a Canadian record time and becoming the seventh-fastest performer in history.
The third step of the men's 200 butterfly podium seemed wide open coming into the meet. It was the opposite in the 100 butterfly -- the event's best swimmers had been firing warning shots throughout the year as six of the eight fastest performers in history were on the Paris entry lists. Kharun entered as the 13th seed and survived a brutal semifinal round by making the final as the sixth seed.
The young Canadian turned seventh in the Olympic final. But he flew home, splitting 26.72 over the closing 50 meters and getting his hands on the wall for bronze by a tenth. Kharun clocked 50.45, his third lifetime best of the Games, as he went from 50.71 in prelims to 50.68 in the semifinals and finally his bronze-medal effort.
"This is what I wanted," Kharun told Team Canada, "but I knew [in] the 100 fly, the competition was so crazy that the top three was just a dream for the 100 fly. I'm just so glad I finally got it. I was in disbelief when I touched the wall, and it's just so great."
Like his 200 butterfly medal, his 100 butterfly medal also helped make Canadian Olympic history. He touched behind his teammate Josh Liendo's silver-medal effort (49.99), marking Canada's first double podium at a Summer Games since 1976. Further, no Canadian man had medaled in the 100 butterfly since 1972. Kharun shared that he and Liendo "spoke about how crazy it would be [if] me and him both got on the podium. I'm so glad we spoke it into existence. It's such a great feeling."
Kharun's surprise medals at the Olympics announced that the teenager had reached the next level in the sport. He further confirmed that at the 2024 Short Course World Championships in Budapest. The 2022 edition of the meet marked Kharun's first time representing Canada, and his performance in Budapest highlighted how much improvement he's made in the past two years.
His meet peaked in the 200 butterfly -- he earned his first world title by equaling Daiya Seto's championship record 1:48.24, tying him for the second-fastest performance of all time. The swim set Americas, Commonwealth, and Canadian records as he helped Canada sweep the 200 butterfly in Budapest (Summer McIntosh won the women's race one event before). Finally, Kharun added a silver and national record in the 50 butterfly (21.67) and helped Canada medal in three relays; he left Budapest with five medals in total.