Speedo Grand Challenge Day 3: Ilya Kharun Hits 1:55.42 200 Fly To Crack World Top 10

2025 NOVA SPEEDO GRAND CHALLENGE

• May 23-25, 2025
• William Woollett Jr. Aquatics Center Pool, Irvine, California
• Long Course Meters (50 meters)
• Results on Meet Mobile: “2025 CA 29th NOVA-Speedo Grand Challenge”
• YouTube Livestream
• Day 1 Recap | Day 2 Recap

After producing yet another 50-point swim in the 100 fly on Saturday, Ilya Kharun closed out the 2025 Speedo Grand Challenge with a standout performance in the final of the men’s 200 fly.

Kharun went out like a rocket, turning in 54.72 at the 100, and then held off a late push from Krzysztof Chmielewski to claim the win in a time of 1:55.42, knocking nearly two seconds off his season-best time of 1:57.19 set the weekend prior at the Sun Devil Open.

The 20-year-old Kharun moves into 10th in the world this season in the event, while Chmielewski, who clocked 1:55.93 to finish as the runner-up, has been as fast as 1:54.36 this year, ranking him #2 in the world.

Placing 3rd was Chmielewski’s twin brother, Michal Chmielewski, who touched in 1:57.28 after going 1:55.36 at the Sacramento Pro Swim.

For Kharun, the performance is just under a second shy of his fastest-ever in-season swim, which was the 1:54.49 he produced at the Fort Lauderdale Pro Swim in March 2023. His best time stands at 1:52.80, set in the 2024 Olympic final where he won the bronze medal.

OTHER EVENT WINNERS

• Michigan commit and Sandpipers of Nevada product Rebecca Diaconescu won the women’s 800 free in a time of 8:47.20, just shy of the 8:45.07 best time she set at the Fort Lauderdale Pro Swim three weeks earlier.
• Team Santa Monica’s Ivan Puskovitch topped the men’s 1500 free in 15:39.85, having set a season-best time of 15:31.48 in mid-April at the Fran Crippen Swim Meet of Champions. Pacific Swim’s Julien Rousseau, 18, was the runner-up in 15:56.36 one week after he was the runner-up in the 500 free at the CIF State Championships. Rousseau’s PB sits at 15:52.33 from last summer.
• Isabelle Odgers led a 1-2-3 sweep for NOVA of Virginia in the women’s 200 breast, clocking 2:29.78 to lead 16-year-old Sofia Szymanowski (2:34.09) and 17-year-old Kaitlyn Nguyen (2:34.23). Odgers, 24, set a season-best of 2:28.89 at the Sacramento Pro Swim, while Szymanowski set a new lifetime best by over a second to rank 6th this season in the girls’ 15-16 age group.
• NOVA’s Gian Santos, 19, shattered his best time to win the men’s 200 breast in 2:16.45, lowering his previous mark of 2:18.30 set last summer at the Philippine National Trials. Alpha Aquatics’ Pavel Romanov, 31, placed 2nd in 2:17.32, just short of his season-best set in early April in Sacramento (2:17.04).
• Former Cal star Isabelle Stadden won the women’s 100 back in a time of 1:00.68 in what was her first time racing the LCM event this season. The swim ranks her 14th this season amongst Americans. Team Santa Monica’s Macky Hodges (1:02.68) was 2nd, while Georgia commit Maddie Thornton (1:03.02) set a new best time to rank 8th this season in the girls’ 15-16 age group.
• Paris Olympian Keaton Jones topped the men’s 100 back in 55.62, edging out Cal teammate Ziyad Saleem (55.90) as both swimmers raced for the first time since the end of the college season. Jones set a best time of 54.31 last April, while Saleem set his at 55.19 in June 2024.
• Brea Aquatics’ Justina Kozan came from behind to claim the women’s 200 fly in 2:14.32 over Sandpipers of Nevada’s Applejean Gwinn, as Kozan trailed by nearly nine-tenths at the final turn but closed in 33.95 to run down Gwinn (2:14.50). Kozan lowers her previous season-best of 2:15.87, while Gwinn, 18, dipped under her previous best time of 2:14.62 to rank 8th this season in the girls’ 17-18 age group.
• In the women’s 100 free, Crow Canyon’s Liberty Clark, an Indiana commit, followed up her massive best time of 54.86 from the Sacramento Pro Swim with another impressive performance, picking up the victory in 55.47 to top Kozan (55.65) and 14-year-old standout Gabi Brito (56.35). Clark’s swim from Sacramento ranks her 4th this season in the girls’ 17-18 age group and 27th all-time despite the fact she’s still only 17. The swim for Kozan knocks .02 off her best time set in 2023, while Brito came within a quarter-second of her PB (56.05) set earlier this month at the Fran Crip Swim Meet of Champions.
• Croatian Vili Sivec, a two-time Big West conference champion this past season at Cal State Bakersfield, dominated the men’s 100 free in a time of 49.17, knocking off his previous best time of 49.65 set at last summer’s European Championships. Rising USC sophomore Ian Pickles placed 2nd in 50.14, lowering his personal best time of 50.16 set nearly two years ago at the 2023 Junior National Championships.