Ilya Kharun Has Dropped 14.5 Seconds in the 200 FL this Year, Now #4 15-16

2021 SPEEDO WINTER JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS WEST

• December 8-11, 2021
• Jamail Texas Swim Center, Austin, Texas
• Short Course Yards (25 yards), Prelims/Finals
• Prelims: 9 am (ET)
• Finals: 5 pm (ET) – Wed. relays at 6 pm
• Meet Central
• Live Results
• Psych Sheets
• Live Stream

BOYS 200 BUTTERFLY – FINALS

• Meet Record: Luca Urlando – 1:40.91 (2018)

Top 3:

1. Ilya Kharun (SAND), 16 – 1:42.39
2. Conor McKenna (LAC), 18 – 1:43.65
3. Holden Smith (Un-CA), 18 – 1:44.29

16-year-old Ilya Kharun out of Sandpipers of Nevada followed up his boys 15-16 NAG in the 100 fly on Friday with a win in the 200 fly on Saturday. Kharun led the race wire-to-wire in finals, splitting 49.00 on the opening 100, then closing in 53.39. He touched in 1:42.39, winning by over a second, and shedding 1.64 seconds off the personal best of 1:44.03 he swam in prelims. Kharun entered the meet with a best of 1:45.44, so in total, the 16-year-old dropped 3.05 seconds over the course of the day.

Kharun is now the #4 performer all-time in the 15-16 boys age group with the swim. He sits behind only NAG holder Luca Urlando, Aiden Hayes, and Michael Phelps. Here is the updated all-time top 5 for the 15-16 boys SCY 200 fly:

Yesterday’s performance were the latest in a period of huge improvement for the 16-year-old Kharun. He had a breakthrough meet back in October, where he swam giant personal bests in 9 different events.

Kharun started out on Sandpipers as a young child, then left for another team. In the spring of 2019, he returned to the team. According to Sandpipers coach Michael Kinross, Kharun “took a little while to readjust to our training and he is a bit of a late bloomer size wise compared to some of the other boys at his age and level.”

“Then COVID hit and he remained in our Age Group/Pre-Senior level track, which by design focuses on the development of the growing athlete. Meaning he was still swimming all events, all strokes, all distances, at all meets, only wearing a tech suit a couple of times a year, and racing at meets not as fresh as many of his age group counterparts.

“Ilya moved into our National groups in January which allowed a little more freedom to focus on more of his primary events, especially in the lead up to Open Water Nationals and Olympic Trials.”

The moves have paid off for Kharun, who has now dropped 14.52 seconds from the personal best he swam in November of 2020 – 1:56.91. Here Kharun’s improvement progression in the 200 fly in the past 13 months: