Arizona State’s Ilyra Kharun competes in the final of the men’s 200-meter butterfly during the Team Canada swim trails in Toronto. His performance was good enough to secure spots in the Paris Olympics for the 100-meter and 200-meter butterflies. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)
PARIS – Athleticism is clearly in the bloodlines.
Arizona State swimmer Ilya Kharun, who will compete for Team Canada Tuesday in the Paris Olympics, comes from a family who understands the demands of physicality. His parents, Valeriy and Oksama Kharoun, were longtime acrobats with Cirque du Soleil. His sister, Dasha, is also a Cirque performer.
All eyes will be on the son this week, however, as he competes in the 200-meter butterfly Tuesday and the 100-meter butterfly Friday in the Paris Olympics.
Not bad for the incoming sophomore majoring in sports business.
“This is really the results of my parents teaching me to work hard and stay positive,” he said.
Kharun, 19, who was born in Montreal but raised in Las Vegas, will be suiting up with the goal of winning a medal.
“He’ll be one of the top eight performers in the world,” said former ASU swimmer Grant House, a friend of Kharun’s.
Kharun is the only swimmer in history who has posted a sub-15 in the mile and a sub-19 in the 50 freestyle.
House helped recruit Kharun to ASU. Now, House is preparing to watch Kharun on national television, performing on the world’s biggest stage.
Few are as close to Kharun as Herbie Behm, ASU coach and recently, Kharun’s personal coach.
Behm traveled to Canada in May to coach and watch Kharun during the Team Canada trials. Kharun did not disappoint.
He electrified the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre while swimming the 200-meter butterfly in the finals, which was broadcast on CBC Sports.
A “1:54.41 for Kharun, and that is one of the 10 fastest times in the world this year,” said play-by-play announcer Rob Snoek as Kharun touched the wall nearly five body lengths in front of the next-closest swimmer.
Color commentator Byron MacDonald mused that Kharun “actually doesn’t look very tired, I think he could do another one. Turns out that’s the second-fastest time in the world this year. … That’s putting your name in the discussion for the medals when you get to Paris, Ilya Kharun.”
At the Olympic Trials in Canada, Kharun made sure to represent Arizona State by wearing his black and gold Sun Devils cap.
The Olympics Trials weren’t the only place the known butterflier made waves.
In one season with ASU, Kharun broke the school record in both the 100-meter and 200-meter butterflies. Behm and Arizona State recently updated the record board at Mona Plummer Aquatic Center in Tempe to make room for Kharun’s record-breaking effort.
Though Arizona is not Kharun’s native home, Behm considers him one of ASU’s established swimmers.
Between breaking records and helping the ASU swim and dive team win its first ever national championship in March, Kharun is more than just a Team Canada athlete. The soon-to-be sophomore has found a home at ASU.
“He has such a unique background … his parents are from Ukraine, so he has a lot of different places that he considers home,” Behm said. “I think having a home here and kind of a family with all the guys on the team is super cool.”
Kharun will be representing both Team Canada and Arizona State when he dives into the waters of the Olympic Aquatics Centre in Paris.
“He’s learning about Canadian history as he goes … he’s super proud of that,” Behm said. “It’s a very unique opportunity … to represent that.”
And to continue flexing the impressive bloodline muscles of an athletic family.