arena Swim of the Week: Ilya Kharun Enters Rarefied Air With 1:37.93 200 Fly

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Disclaimer: Swim of the Week is not meant to be a conclusive selection of the best overall swim of the week, but rather one Featured Swim to be explored in deeper detail. The Swim of the Week is an opportunity to take a closer look at the context of one of the many fast swims this week, perhaps a swim that slipped through the cracks as others grabbed the headlines, or a race we didn’t get to examine as closely in the flood of weekly meets.

It’s only a matter of time before Ilya Kharun becomes the fastest swimmer of all-time in the men’s 200 fly in short course yards. At least that’s the conclusion one might come to after what he’s done throughout his freshman season at Arizona State, with his latest outing putting him within earshot of the record before we’ve even entered the postseason.

Racing against Stanford last Friday, Kharun scorched his way to a time of 1:37.93 in the 200 fly, becoming just the fourth swimmer in history to break the 1:38 barrier and the first to do so in a non-championship setting.

The 18-year-old, who came into the season with a lifetime best of 1:40.89 (altitude adjusted from 1:41.39) but has already been faster seven times this season, now ranks 3rd all-time in the event, trailing only NCAA, American and U.S. Open Record holder Jack Conger and Nicolas Albiero.

Conger, Albiero and the only other man who has broken 1:38, Joseph Schooling, all won NCAA titles in the event during their career.

All-Time Performances, Men’s 200 Butterfly (SCY)

1. Jack Conger (Texas), 1:37.35 – 2017 NCAA Championships
2. Nicolas Albiero (Louisville), 1:37.92 – 2022 ACC Championships
3. Ilya Kharun (Arizona State), 1:37.93 – 2024 Stanford vs ASU
4. Joseph Schooling (Texas), 1:37.97 – 2016 NCAA Championships
5. Jack Conger (Texas), 1:38.06 – 2016 NCAA Championships
6. Trenton Julian (Cal), 1:38.53 – 2021 Pac-12 Championships
7. Andreas Vazaios (NC State), 1:38.57 – 2019 NCAA Championships
8. Andreas Vazaios (NC State), 1:38.60 – 2018 NCAA Championships
9. Andrei Minakov (Stanford), 1:38.63 – 2024 Stanford vs ASU
10. Nicolas Albiero (Louisville), 1:38.64 – 2021 NCAA Championships

Not to be glossed over was the performance of Stanford’s Andrei Minakov alongside Kharun, as he dropped a massive best time of 1:38.63, which, as you can see above, stands up as the 9th-fastest swim ever and ranks him #7 all-time.

Minakov had the slight lead over Kharun for the majority of the race, through the last turn even, with Kharun only edging in front in the closing yards.

RACE VIDEO

Relative to the way Conger attacked the race in his record swim, Kharun and Minakov were much more conservative. Kharun was 1.99 seconds off record pace at the 150, but managed to claw back within six-tenths after a tantalizing 25.07 closing split.

Split Comparison

Coming into last weekend’s dual, the fastest time Kharun had ever recorded was 1:39.10, done at the NC State Invite back in November (he also went 1:39.31 in a dual with Utah two days later, which altitude-adjusted down to 1:38.11).

During the midseason invite, where he was presumably more rested than he was against Stanford, Kharun showed more speed on the front half of the race.

Split Comparison

Kharun should find some more speed with a full taper on the first 100, and if he can have a similar second 100 to what he did against Stanford, Conger’s record is toast.

As for Minakov, he only had one 200 fly swim on record, a 1:42.57 from this time last year, before he dropped a 1:38 out of nowhere, so he’s a bit of a wildcard as we enter the postseason.

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