Montreal’s Ilya Kharun earned an Olympic bronze medal in the men’s 200-metre butterfly final on Wednesday at La Defense Arena in Paris.
The 19-year-old Kharun posted a time of one minute 52.80 seconds to set a Canadian record time and secure Canada’s first medal in men’s swimming since since Victoria’s Ryan Cochrane claimed silver in the 1,500m freestyle in London 2012.
“It means a lot, I’m really happy that I got to this moment and I just can’t wait to keep showing people what I can do,” said Kharun. “I got even more, there’s more to work on, but I’m very happy that I got the bronze.”
Trailing most of the race, Leo Marchand surged past defending Olympic champion and world-record holder Kristof Milak of Hungary to capture his second Paris 2024 gold medal.
The crowd at La Defense Arena roared as Marchand touched in an Olympic record of 1 minute, 51.71 seconds, beating Milak by four-hundredths of a second.
Montreal’s Ilya Kharun swam to a bronze medal and set a new Canadian record time of 1:52.80 in the 200-metre butterfly at Paris 2024.
“Hard work and determination. I knew my goal from the very beginning, and that’s all,” Kharun said about what got him on the podium at 19 years old.
Kharun was born to Ukrainian parents, who were posted in Montreal as Cirque du Soleil acrobats.
His parents tried to put him into the sport, but it was too expensive in Las Vegas, where he grew up.
Kharun ended up finding his way to swimming, and now he’s a gold medallist.
“It’s such a great honour, I’m really happy to represent Canada, and it’s so amazing to show what I can do.”
Kharun will also compete in the 100m butterfly on Friday.
Ilya Kharun of Montreal looks back at this historical first ever Canadian Olympic medal in the 200-metre butterfly at Paris 2024.
French Phelps keeps deliverng
Turns out, those comparisons to Michael Phelps weren’t farfetched at all when to comes to Marchand.
They certainly weren’t a burden for the 22-year-old Frenchman.
Marchand completed one of the most audacious doubles in swimming history Wednesday night, winning the 200-meter butterfly and the 200 breaststroke about two hours apart at the Paris Games.
WHAT A NIGHT FOR SWIMMING! 🤯 🤯<br><br>An Olympic Record for Katie Ledecky 🇺🇸<br><br>TWO Olympic Records for Leon Marchand 🇫🇷<br><br>A World Record for Pan Zhanle 🇨🇳<a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/Paris2024?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#Paris2024</a> | <a href=”https://twitter.com/WorldAquatics?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@WorldAquatics</a> | <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/Swimming?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#Swimming</a> <a href=”https://t.co/sARUWocWYi”>pic.twitter.com/sARUWocWYi</a>
—@Olympics
Two grueling races. Two very different strokes. Two Olympic records. Two gold medals.
Take that, Phelps.
After his men’s 200-metre butterfly victory, Marchand made it look downright easy in the 200 breast.
He led all the way, touching in 2 minutes, 5.85 seconds as more than 15,000 fans — many of them holding up cardboard cutouts of his smiling face — nearly blew the roof off La Defense Arena.
“Leon! Leon! Leon!” they screamed, a chant that was sure to carry on through the night in Paris.
McIntosh advances
Canadian 17-year-old phenom Summer McIntosh went first overall in the women’s 200-metre butterfly semifinals on Wednesday with a time of two minutes 04.87 seconds.
McIntosh, who earned a gold and a silver medal in these Games, is the two-time defending world champion in the event.
Sydney Pickrem of Halifax was ninth in the women’s 200m breaststroke semifinals, and will take part in the final if one of the eight qualified swimmers pulls out of the event. Winnipeg’s Kelsey Wog was 13th.
Canada’s Summer McIntosh swam to a time of 2:04.87 in Wednesday’s 200-metre butterfly semifinal securing a spot in the final at Paris 2024.
Swedish gold
Sarah Sjöström turned her fifth Olympics into a gold-medal celebration.
The 30-year-old Swedish veteran pulled off her own surge to the finish to win the 100 freestyle for the second gold of her brilliant career.
Sjöström was only fourth at the turn but kicked into another gear on the return lap, touching in 52.16 seconds. The U.S. team settled for another silver medal — its eighth of the swimming competition — when Torri Huske finished in 52.29. Siobhan Haughey of Hong Kong took the bronze at 52.33, edging Australia’s Mollie O’Callaghan by one-hundredth of a second.
It was the fifth Olympic medal overall for Sjöström, who first competed at the 2008 Beijing Games where Phelps won a record eight golds. Her previous gold came in the 100 butterfly at the Rio de Janiero in 2016.
This victory might be the sweetest of all. She gasped in disbelief and pounded the water when she saw her time and, more important, the number beside it.
She was again an Olympic champion.
Ilya Kharun became the first ever Canadian man to claim an Olympic medal in the 200-metre butterfly, as the Montreal native finished in the bronze position at Paris 2024.
Also on Wendesday, Pan Zhanle of China broke his own world record on the way to winning the men’s 100m freestyle, finishing in 46.40 seconds for his country’s first swimming gold medal.
That mark topped his 46.80 swum at the February world championships in Doha.
In perhaps the most ferocious race in swimming, the 19-year-old Pan edged Kyle Chalmers of Australia, who clocked a 47.48 for silver and Romanian bronze medalist David Popovici in 47.49.
No world marks had been broken through the first four days in the pool at the Paris Games.
Toronto’s Summer McIntosh spoke with CBC Sports’ Devin Heroux poolside after winning the Olympic women’s 400-metre individual medley final at Paris 2024.