Ilya Kharun 22.6 Cracks Ben Proud's Commonwealth Mark At The Dawn Of The Olympic 'Fly Dash
“We’ve heard it said that this is the golden age of swimming in Canada. I think this has shown it really is. The performances continue to build year on year. It’s about making the most of the opportunities in our athletes.” - John Atkinson, Swimming Canada’s HP director and national coach
Ilya Kharun provided the curtain-closing fireworks at Canadian Trials in Victoria with a 22.68 Commonwealth record in the 50m butterfly, a dash at the dawn of a new Olympic era for stroke one-lengthens that rocketed him into the all-time top 10 at joint eighth.
Inside the 22.75 at which England's Ben Proud had held the Commonwealth standard since claiming the World title in 2017, Kharun cracked wide open his own 23.09 Canadian record, set earlier this year, to fly from 50th all-time to No8 alongside Italy's 2023 World champion Thomas Ceccon.
So, two World champions, one got past, the other matched, and the 2025 World No1 time for Kharun, who ended 2024 as World short-course champion in the 200 'fly. He will head to the annual showcase, the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore - where the pool action begins on July 27 - a contender in all three butterfly events.
Kharun, the 20-year-old from Montreal who last year in Paris claimed two Olympic bronze medals, in the 100 and 200m butterfly, said:
“I’m so happy I got under the 23 (second) mark. That’s what I wanted and I’m happy it happened.”
Speaking through Swimming Canada, he spoke of the nature of the dash in a season that added the 50m stroke events to the Olympic program from 2028:
“It’s timing and power. Every little detail matters in a 50 because one little mistake and that first place could go to fourth. It’s all about these little details.”
Shoals of sprinters are now out there fine-tuning those 'little details' as the 50 back, breast and fly events take on new meaning, complete with a goal of making the ultimate podium in the sport of swimming come the Games currently scheduled to take place in LA.
Kharun was followed home by national teammate Finlay Knox and others who got to see how far ahead of them the pace of podium aspiration in international waters looks like.
The first Olympic 50 'fly will unfold without the current World record holder, former Ukraine champion Andrei Govorov, for two reasons:
- he's returned
- he will be barred from ever making a comeback should he wish to do so after embracing enhancement in another realm
Craig Lord
Craig Lord
Craig Lord
On a day that witnessed a third trials victory for Mary-Sophie Harvey, on 1:56.60 in a 200m free final that went without the top seed, Summer McIntosh, who this week made the Canadian event the biggest world-record show of the year so far, John Atkinson, Swimming Canada’s high performance director and national coach, was delighted with the work being undertaken by the coaches and swimmers who are and who are aspiring to be members of the Maple shoal abroad. He said:
“We’ve heard it said that this is the golden age of swimming in Canada. I think this has shown it really is. The performances continue to build year on year. It’s about making the most of the opportunities in our athletes.”
That was in part reflected in the great news deep in the mix of team stats from Paris 2024:
Craig Lord
Beyond that, I'm sure that neither Atkinson nor anyone else in Canada will mind me mentioning a golden era that got away: the Canadian women's team of Montreal 1976, with Nancy Garapick, denied double backstroke gold at a home Gamews by GDR swimmers we have long known to have been doped from an early age. Then there's Cheryl Gibson, for whom it might have been gold in the 400IM, with teammate Shannon Smith elevated to silver for the same reasons.
There might have been silver for Wendy Weinberg in the 800m free had American Shirley Babashoff, the winner in second, been listened to; and silvers instead of bronzes for the Canadian 4x100 free team of Becky Smith, Gail Amundrud, Barbara Clark and Anne Jardin; and the 4x200m quartet of Susan Sloan, Robin Corsiglia, Wendy Hogg and Anne Jardin.
Atkinson extended thanks to the full swimming orchestra:
“Performances like we’ve seen here come with a plan and a strategy. We wouldn’t be able to do it without the continued support of Own the Podium, Sport Canada, the Canadian Olympic Committee and the Canadian Paralympic Committee.”
Women's 200m freestyle
Two-time Olympian Mary-Sophie Harvey, of Montreal’s CAMO club, took her third win of the week in 1:56.60. The Trois-Rivières, Quebec, native had already collected tickets to Singapore Worlds with victories in the 100m butterfly and the 200m breaststroke.
Fourth in the 200m free at the Paris Olympics in a stellar 2024 season, Harvey said:
“It’s been a long and exhausting week. Honestly the goal was just to get to the wall, then move on and get ready for worlds. Last year left a little fire in me. Just being off the podium is extra motivation for the next three years.”
Ella Jansen, of Burlington, Ontario, was on Harvey's shoulder at 1:57.33 for the second ticket to Singapore, Sienna Angove, 1:59.07, and Brooklyn Douthwright, 1:59.44, fir in line for 4x200m selection.
Jansen made the team on day 1, with silver in the 400m freestyle behind Summer McIntosh's thumping World record:
Craig Lord
The women's 200m final:
Men's 200m Freestyle
The men's four-length battle chucked a B-final bomb: Antoine Sauvé clocked 1:50.59 in heats and missed the cut for the A final by 0.3sec. Park that swim and disappointment in the fuel depot.
The A final took to the water knowing it had a clear target: the 1:47.77 last-ditch 'softer' cut for Singapore. Ethan Ekk, already on the team, took the win won the race in 1:48.53, outside the time needed for access to the 200m solo at Worlds, though the top 4 in the race qualified for the 4x200m.
A low moment in a week of highs.
Except the great news was about to unfold: Sauvé, of Montreal’s CAMO club, already on the team for the 100m, sprang the surprise of the meet. in 1:46.39, the man who leaves his teens behind this season broke the Canadian record of 1:46.40 sent by Brent Hayden at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
Sauvé, second in the men’s 100 free earlier in the meet, said:
“That’s what I was training for. I didn’t like not being in the final but I just knew I was capable. I just went too easy (in the heats). I thought it was going to be easier than that but the guys went faster than I thought and I ended up missing it by almost nothing. It is what it is. I still managed to be ready tonight. Things happen but it’s not going to happen again.”
The A and the top of the B final:
In other finals:
In Para action, from Swimming Canada:
In Para swimming, Tyson Jacob of Les Loutres swam a Canadian record of 45.51 in the S5 men’s 50-m backstroke.
Aly Van Wyck-Smart, an S3 swimmer from Whitby Swimming, swam a personal best time of 1:08.64 to win the multi-class women’s 50-m backstroke.
“I am happy but a bit disappointed,” she said. “My goal was to get the (Canadian) record and a Top 8 time in the world, but it was still a best time.”
Katie Cosgriffe, an S10 swimmer from the Oakville Aquatic Club, won the multi-class 100-m backstroke in 1:08.26. Cosgriffe won the 100 fly earlier in the week.
Swimming Canada has announced the team selected to compete at the World Para Swimming Championships Sept. 21–27 in Singapore.
In Full at Swimming Canada:
Simone Cseplo
