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Ilya Kharun can handle the circus.
Born in Montreal to a pair of Ukrainian Cirque du Soleil performers and raised in Las Vegas, Kharun nearly became a gymnast himself, but wound up in the pool instead due to its lower cost of entry.
The 20-year-old then emerged onto the Canadian swimming scene just a few years ago both loudly and without much fanfare. He first competed for Canada at the 2022 short-course world championships, where he set three national records and won two medals. His next podium appearances came two years later at the Paris Olympics, bagging bronze in both the 100- and 200-metre butterfly.
Somewhat quietly, Kharun’s first Olympic medal was also the first for a Canadian male in 12 years.
Of course, Kharun’s rise has been nearly parallel to that of Summer McIntosh, who has mostly stolen the Canadian swimming show.
That’s again the case at these World Aquatics Championships in Singapore, where McIntosh is pursuing five individual gold medals — a feat matched only by American great Michael Phelps in 2007.
WATCH | Kharun eager to continue improvement at world championships in Singapore:
A successful swim trials saw Ilya Kharun book his ticket to worlds in the 50m, 100m & 200m butterfly, but he’s confident he’ll be faster and improve when he hits the pool for the swimming world championships July 26th – August 3rd. Watch it live on CBC Gem.
Elsewhere, Kharun has taken second billing in his own races to international superstars and Canadian contenders alike.
Kharun, however, might be the favourite to bring the second-most hardware home to Canada from the world championships in Singapore.
The butterfly specialist entered in three solo events for this meet: the 50, 100 and 200.
His best shot at gold seemed to be the 50 after he lowered the Canadian record in the 50 by nearly half a second to 22.68 at June’s national trials, matching the eighth-best mark ever.
The result was significant on two fronts — Kharun just completed a sophomore season at Arizona State University in which the sprint event was his main focus under new head coach Herbie Behm, who replaced the legendary Bob Bowman when the latter moved to Texas. It was Bowman who originally recruited Kharun to the desert.
Also, the 50 butterfly will make its Olympic debut at Los Angeles 2028.
Kharun was back in the pool Tuesday for the 200 semis — a discipline that was traditionally his strongest, despite Behm’s newly implemented strategy — and faced yet another scare when he sat fifth in at the 150-metre mark. But he turned it on over the final 50, placing second in his semi and fifth overall at one minute 54.43 seconds.
The medal race goes Wednesday at 7:50 a.m. ET, with live coverage on CBCSports.ca and CBC Gem.
And many eyes will be on Kharun.
Olympic champion Leon Marchand, the French superstar who won four gold medals in Paris last summer, scaled back his program for worlds and dropped this event. Hungary’s Kristof Milak, the silver medallist, is skipping worlds entirely.
WATCH | McIntosh, Harvey go 1 and 3 in 200m IM at worlds in Singapore:
On day two of the swimming world championships, Summer McIntosh collected her second gold medal in Singapore, and teammate Mary-Sophie Harvey joined her on the podium winning bronze. Brittany MacLean Campbell and Devin Heroux tell you everything you need to know from the pool in Singapore.
Kharun, meanwhile, set the Canadian record in the distance in that Olympic race at 1:52.80 — which would have represented the fastest mark in today’s qualifying. In June, he took top spot at national trials in 1:53.41, a time that would have been good enough for second overall today.
If it wasn’t for his shaky start to worlds, Kharun would likely be the favourite for gold.
Instead, his chief competition comes in the form of American Luca Urlando, a breakout star who went from not even reaching the semifinals in Paris to posting the fourth-fastest mark all-time at 1:52.37 — trailing just Phelps, Milak and Marchand — in April.
Kharun said he was saving gas for the medal race.
“I can definitely go a lot quicker. My plan … was just to make it into the final. I hadn’t really pushed myself until that final 50. It was alright, I’ve just got to be quicker [Wednesday],” he said.
After a day off on Thursday, Kharun will be back at it for the 100 semifinals on Friday, where he’ll face Canadian competition in the form of Josh Liendo. The two shared the Paris podium with Liendo taking silver and Kharun earning bronze as Milak won gold.
Liendo owns the Canadian record at 49.99 seconds from that Paris race, but Kharun clapped back by beating him in June with a personal-best 50.37 seconds in what is quickly becoming a friendly rivalry.
“I’ve been chasing Josh every time we race during trials or in college at NCAAs,” Kharun said. “It just makes it fun.”
And so the stage is set for the son of acrobats to contort himself into a main character in Singapore.
On deck
* Two-time world champion Kylie Masse narrowly missed out on the women’s 100 backstroke podium, placing fourth behind the same three medallists, in the same order, from Paris as Australia’s Kaylee McKeown won gold ahead of Americans Regan Smith and Katharine Berkoff. Canadian Taylor Ruck, swimming in the lane next to Masse, placed seventh. Watch the full race here Masse will be back in the pool quickly for 50 backstroke heats tonight at 10:16 p.m. ET. The semis go tomorrow at 7:36 a.m. ET. Fellow Canadian Ingrid Wilm will also compete in that event.
* Katie Ledecky re-asserted her dominance once more, blowing away the field for a victory in her signature 1,500 freestyle event. The American’s 800-metre split was 8:09.95 — a mark that McIntosh has only beaten once in the 800 itself when she put down an 8:05.07 at trials. The Canadian’s best mark previously? 8:09.96. Ledecky’s next event is that 800 in one of the most anticipated showdowns of the entire meet against McIntosh, with the final set for Saturday at 8:17 a.m. ET.
* McIntosh, meanwhile, has a busy schedule before she reacquaints herself with Ledecky. Assuming she gets through heats, the 18-year-old is back in the pool Wednesday at 8:11 a.m. ET for the 200 butterfly semifinals, with the medal race set for Thursday. Watch The Ready Room’s preview of that race here.
How to watch
You can stream live action from the World Aquatics Championships on CBCSports.ca and CBC Gem, with additional weekend coverage on CBC TV. See the full streaming and broadcast schedules for details.
Reporter Devin Heroux is on site in Singapore speaking to Canadians following their races, and will join The Ready Room show live on YouTube every day after finals, with Brittany MacLean Campbell hosting from Toronto. The show will include Canadian highlights, athlete interviews and analysis. The show page can be found here.
