After SwimSwam posted a video of Ilya Kharun swimming 31.2 in a 75 yard fly swim in practice, one reader asked “does Ilya have potential as a relay freestyler or is he strictly fly at the international level?”
Intentionally or not, the answer came swiftly on Friday from a video posted by Poolside Perspective. In the video, a group of the top Sun Devil sprinters line up and race a suited 100 yard free from the blocks, including among them the sophomore Kharun. The swim was at a Friday intrasquad scrimmage.
Kharun touched first in 42.30, which is only .12 seconds shy of his lifetime best – which came from a dual meet against the University of Arizona in February 2024.
Times from the Time Trial Swim
- Ilya Kharun, 42.30
- Patrick Sammon, 43.45
- Filip Senc-Samardzic, 43.78
- Andy Dobrzanski, 45.65
- Daniel Matheson, 46.91
- Lucien Vergnes, 46.94
- Cale Martter, 47.39
- TJ Hochwalt, 48.39
While not a definitive answer to the original question, it is an important data point in two ways:
The first being that Kharun is adapting just fine with Herbie Behm, previously the program’s top sprint coach anyway, moving into the head coaching role to replace Bob Bowman, who left after the team’s NCAA title to take over as the Director of Swimming at Texas.
The other is that Kharun is likely on track to represent Canada internationally in a free relay, at least, if not an individual sprint freestyle event.
Kharun comes from the Sandpipers of Nevada program that is known for producing durable, versatile swimmers. He is evidence of that with a best of 18.82 in the 50 free (2024 Pac-12s) and an altitude-adjusted 14:56.56 in the 1650 free (from high school). There aren’t many, if any, swimmers in history who can match that range, though the altitude-adjusted is an asterisk on that 14:56.
Kharun, who is still only 19 until February, has a long course best of 49.37 that he swam at last year’s Canadian Olympic Trials. While that wasn’t enough to earn him a spot on the Canadian 400 free relay in Paris that placed 6th, it was enough to move him into 17th place all-time among Canadians.
Canada’s 400 Free Relay, 2024 Paris Olympic Games Final
- Josh Liendo – 47.93
- Yuri Kisil – 48.18
- Finlay Knox – 48.26
- Javier Acevedo – 47.81
Jonny Kulow was the fastest American 19-year-old in the 100 free last season at 48.38. Jerry Fox was 2nd at 49.02. Brendan Whitfield 49.12, Dylan Smiley 49.24, and Kharun would have been 5th at 49.37 – from Canadian Trials.
Even going from the Toronto Pan Am Pool (a known ‘fast pool’) to the Olympic pool (a hypothesized ‘slow pool’), he dropped six-tenths of a second in the 100 fly from Trials to the Olympic Games.
A similar drop in the 100 free would have put him at a 48-mid in the first half of his 19th year. Relative to what swimmers like Pan Zhanle and David Popovici did when they were 19 (break World Records, win Olympic gold), that doesn’t move much earth. But as another comparison, American Jack Alexy, who was 7th at the Olympics, swam 49.14 at 19. Chris Guiliano, who was 8th at the Olympics, had a best of 49.17 at 19.
Given that Kharun was raised training in the American system, maybe that’s a better analogy for his progress.
The Arizona State 400 free relay last season won the NCAA title in 2:43.40 and in the process set a new NCAA and U.S. Open Record. Of the four swimmers on that relay, Jonny Kulow (40.82 anchor) and Patrick Sammon (41.02 3rd leg) return, while leadoff Leon Marchand (40.28) turned pro and Jack Dolan (41.28 2nd leg) exhausted his eligibility.
Marchand being so far ahead of Sammon, who was the key leg there swimming more than a second better than his individual time of 42.10, is also head-turning on the transitive property of swimming times.
Kharun, having raced at the Olympics, might be at a different training spot than some of his teammates, but either way, going a near-best time at an intrasquad meet can only be viewed as a positive sign for him, and the Sun Devils, ahead of the 2024-2025 season.
Arizona State officially kicks off their season on October 4th at home against UNLV.
Other Notable Results
- Kharun also swam 45.72 in the 100 back, which is a lifetime best (he hasn’t swum the race since 2022); 45.00 in the 100 fly;
- Junior Zoe Summar swam 51.44 in the 100 free, which undercuts her lifetime best of 51.53 from December 2020 when she was still in high school. Summar is primarily a breaststroker and IM’er. Swiss freshman Julia Ullmann swam the 100 free in 51.29 in her first short course yards meet, and Caroline Bentz, a transfer from Virginia Tech, swam 49.31.
- Ullmann also swam 53.70 in the 100 fly, and Charli Brown swam 53.73 in the 100 fly.
- Post-grad Jack Dolan swam 19.25 in the 50 free.
- More race videos and results available on the Poolside Perspective YouTube page.
October 4, 2024 (Friday, 6:00 p.m. start) is correctly listed as the season opener for ASU in their opening year in the Big-12 conference, but it is a Home meet in Tempe, AZ, NOT a meet hosted by UNLV in Vegas.
The Sun Devil coaches Behm and Salo are among the most creative swim folk I’ve seen in 7 decades in the sport. The staff wrangled with the administration for an opportunity to stretch the college dual meet experience a bit. ASU has authorized a BEER GARDEN on deck near the concession area. There are apparently some limitations, including pre-meet contact and total participants, and alcohol will be restricted to the Beer Garden area and not allowed in the grandstands.… Read more »
Kharun must not be training much specifically for the 100 free. His stroke counts were 6, 8, 7, and 10. Compare that to his 100 back, where his count was a very consistent 6, 6, 6, and 8. If he gets to that level of consistency in free, he has a monster swim in him.
It’s easier to stay UW in back than in free. Splits are also closer in back than in free, indicating you don’t get as tired in back which causes you to take fewer UW kicks. 42.3 is pretty quick.
Herbie hanging on to Ilya when BB left for Texas (w/ 3 more years of ASU eligibility) will have a massive impact on the future of this program
Some PB recognition differing from the article references:
Kulow :40.54 anchoring ASU Medley at 2024 NCAA.
Sammon flat start 100 PB :41.77 from ’24 Pac-12.
It may be a bit misleading looking at the entrants in the time trial 100 as far as reflecting the nature of the pool of athletes who may be considered for season ending relay legs:
Tiago Behar (Sr.) :42.56
Tommy Palmer (Transfer-AZ) :42.72
Quin Seider (Fr.) :43.04
Brady Johnson (Fr.) :43.15
And three more who have Olympic Trials sprint Free cuts, with another 0.04 off.
The most impressive for me is the 100 back. Very fast time for an off event in September.
So this begs questions about a 31.2 75 fly in practice. 45.00 is a great swim to start the season, but makes it seem like the 31.2 wasn’t legit … Unless he did some sort of heavy training directly before the 45.00?
Or, and hear me out, he swam it like an all-out 75 rather than the first 75 of a 100?
Unrelated, but MA just announced on Social Kick his dad is no longer his coach.
About time we normalized taking a big ol’ breath on the sprint freestyle breakout. Sadly decades too late for this SwimSwam commenter, and I have the Ocean-Water-Wonder-kickboard-shaped scars to show for it.
I’m so happy these types of articles are back 🙂