Ilya Kharun Splits 18.89 on Arizona State 200 Medley Relay, Fastest Split in History
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By Braden Keith on SwimSwam
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Arizona State sophomore Ilya Kharun recorded an 18.89 split on the Sun Devils’ 200 medley relay on Friday at the Wolfpack Elite Invite in North Carolina. That marks the fastest flying split in history in the 50 yard fly, shaving .01 seconds off the 18.90 that Jordan Crooks of Tennessee split at the 2023 SEC Championships.
That’s a big improvement off the 19.47 that Kharun split at last year’s NCAA Championship meet. He split 19.12 earlier this season in the team’s tri meet with Cal and Stanford which was his previous best split.
Kharun’s 50 fly (23.27) hasn’t been as good in long course as his 100 (50.45) or 200 (1:52.80), and the same has held true in short course. With the Arizona State sprint program thriving under new head coach Herbie Behm (who specifically led the ASU sprint group last season), his short-burst abilities have improved. He has further demonstrated that by improving his best time in the 50 free several times already this season, including an 18.51 leadoff on Arizona State’s 200 free relay.
Top 10 50 SCY Fly Relay Splits in History
As best as we can gather:
| 50 Butterfly Split | |
| 1 | 18.89, Ilya Kharun (2024 Wolfpack Elite Invite) |
| 2 | 18.90, Jordan Crooks (2023 SECs) |
| 3 | 18.97, Josh Liendo (2024 NCAAs) |
| 4 | 19.12, Ilya Kharun (2024 ASU vs. Cal vs. Stanford) |
| 5 | 19.15, Nyls Korstanje (2023 NCAAs) |
| 6 | 19.24, Ilya Kharun (2023 NC State Invite) |
| 7 | 19.27, Jordan Crooks (2023 NCAAs) |
| 8 | 19.29, Ilya Kharun (2024 Cal vs. ASU) |
| 9 | 19.30, Ilya Kharun (2024 PAC-12s) |
| 10 | 19.31, Ilya Kharun (2024 ASU v. NC State) |
| 10 | 19.31, Gui Caribe (2024 Tennessee Invite) |
Crooks didn’t swim the fly leg of Tennessee’s 200 medley relay, ceding that spot to his teammate Gui Caribe, who split 19.31 to also enter the top 10 rankings.
Kharun is the defending NCAA Champion in the 200 fly and with his newfound speed is expected to challenge his fellow Canadian Josh Liendo for the 100 fly title this season.
Liendo was 44.60 in the 100 fly in Georgia this week, while Kharun was 43.85 earlier in the night on Friday. Liendo still has the better time of the two, swimming 43.07 to win last year’s NCAA title. Liendo is tiptoeing into Kharun’s title event as well – he swam the 200 fly, not the 100 free, on Friday night at his meet and broke the Florida school record.
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