Ilya Kharun wrote himself into the Canadian swimming history books with a bronze medal in the 200-metre butterfly while Summer McIntosh cruised into her third final Wednesday at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Kharun swam 1:52.80 to slice over a second off his own national record and become the first Canadian man to win an Olympic medal since London 2012. The 19-year-old is also the first Canadian to ever earn a medal in the 200 fly.
“It means a lot,” said Kharun, who was born in Montreal and grew up in Las Vegas. “I’m really happy I got to this moment. I can’t wait to keep showing people what I can do.
“I know there’s more to work on but I’m very happy that I got the bronze.”
It was an exciting race with France’s Leon Marchand bringing a roar from the crowd at the Paris La Défense Arena by overtaking defending Olympic champion and world record holder Kristof Milak of Hungary to win gold. His time of 1:51.21 broke Milak’s Olympic record. Milak took the silver in 1:51.75.
Marchand and Kharun were teammates at Arizona State University.
“The atmosphere is absolutely crazy here,” said Kharun. “It was such a great moment. I’m really happy I got to race with them.”
McIntosh made it look easy in the semifinals of the women’s 200 fly, leading all qualifiers with a time of 2:04.87.
“I didn’t care if I was first or anything,” said the 17-year-old from Toronto who now lives in Florida and trains with the Sarasota Sharks. “I wanted to feel my stroke as much as possible.
“Overall, I’m happy with it.”
American Regan Smith was second in 2:05.39 while China’s Yufei Zhang, the defending Olympic champion, was third in 2:06.09.
McIntosh, the Canadian record holder in the 200 fly, is the 2022 and 2023 world champion in the distance.
In other races, Sydney Pickrem just missed qualifying for the 200-m breaststroke final. Her time of 2:24.03 was just .49 behind eighth and final qualifier Satomi Suzuki of Japan. Winnipeg’s Kelsey Wog, who trains with the Manitoba Bisons, finished 13th in 2:24.82.
Kharun’s bronze was Canada’s third medal in the pool after five days of competition. McIntosh earned gold with a dominating win in the 400-m individual medley Monday after collecting Canada’s first medal of the Games with a silver in the 400-m freestyle on Saturday’s opening night of competition.
The last time a Canadian man climbed on the Olympic podium was London 2012. That year, Ryan Cochrane took silver in the 1,500-m freestyle, Brent Hayden bronze in the 100 freestyle and Richard Weinberger bronze in the 10-kilometre marathon.
McIntosh said she took advantage of a day off Tuesday to rest and see family.
“I just rested and recovered,” she said. “I’m still feeling super fresh and trying to treat every day like the first day of the meet.”
The women’s 200-fly final is Thursday.
Earlier in the day, Saskatoon’s Blake Tierney, who now trains with the High Performance Centre – Vancouver, just missed advancing to the semifinals of the 200-m backstroke. His time of 1:58.39 left him .41 behind the final qualifier.
For full results: https://olympics.com/en/paris-2024/schedule/swimming?day=undefined
CBC/Radio-Canada is the exclusive Canadian broadcast and streaming home of the Games. In English, CBC’s comprehensive coverage of Paris 2024 will feature live broadcasts on CBC and partner networks TSN and Sportsnet, CBC Gem, CBC’s Paris 2024 website and the CBC Paris 2024 app for Android and iOS devices. ICI TÉLÉ, ICI TOU.TV and RDS will offer daily French coverage to follow the decisive moments and medals won by Canadian athletes.
The swimming competition runs through Sunday.