Luca Urlando, Ilya Kharun Setting Up Elite 200 Butterfly Rivalry in College and International Competition
When he began his college career at Arizona State University, Ilya Kharun was already an internationally-acclaimed 200 butterfly, having surged down the stretch to tie for fourth in the World Championship final. Months later, he became the third swimmer ever to crack 1:38 in the yards version of the event, coming within six tenths of the NCAA record that had stood since 2017. Kharun picked up the victory at his first NCAA Championships, and he followed that up with a stellar Olympic debut, securing butterfly bronze medals over 100 and 200 meters. At the end of the year, Kharun would capture a short course world title in the 200 fly.
But in his sophomore year of collegiate racing, Kharun struggled to keep pace in the 200 fly as Georgia’s Luca Urlando made a career renaissance. Urlando had been considered a future star during his teenage years, much like Kharun, only for injuries to set him back on multiple occasions in what should have been his prime. He qualified for his first Olympic team in 2024, finishing a lackluster 17th place in the 200 fly, but his return to college racing for the University of Georgia came in spectacular fashion.
At the Bulldogs’ dual meet against Tennessee in January 2025, Urlando broke that aforementioned NCAA record with a time of 1:37.17, surpassing his own best time by more than one-and-a-half seconds in the process. That set off a six-month run where Urlando made an unlikely run to becoming the world’s best 200 butterflyer.
The 23-year-old went under 1:37 in the yards event on the way to an NCAA title, finishing more than two seconds ahead of Kharun, and a week later, he crushed his long course best time to become the fourth-fastest performer in history. After successfully earning a bid to his second World Championships, Urlando became the lone American man to win gold in Singapore. He dominated the 200 fly final by three-quarters of a second while joining the exclusive sub-1:52 club.
Ilya Kharun — Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick
In that same race, Kharun was struggling to keep up. He made a run down the stretch but ended up fourth, 0.17 behind previously-unknown Australian Harrison Turner. That finish continued a relatively disappointing Worlds for the Canadian, who had already missed the 50 fly final despite entering with the world’s fastest time. However, a best time and bronze medal in the 100 fly at the end of the meet would launch Kharun into what has turned into a stellar fall season.
In Arizona State’s opening dual meet of the season, Kharun posted a 50 fly split of 18.91, unofficially the fifth-quickest ever and ahead of what any other swimmer posted at last year’s NCAA Championships. He hit a time of 1:37.94 in the 200 fly, only a hundredth off his best time and ahead of anything he notched all last season.
After that, Kharun embarked upon the short course meters World Cup circuit and swept victories in the 50 and 200 fly at all three stops, including a series record of 1:48.46 in the 200 in Westmont. He was second in the 100 fly at all three meets and even pulled off an unexpected win in the 50 free at the second stop, taking down American standouts Jack Alexy and Chris Guiliano in the process.
Now, Kharun is resurgent while Urlando remains in peak form. An incredible 200 fly rivalry could be forming, with tight battles expected this college season, during the 2026-27 campaign and in long course on the road to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. These two will also clash in the 100 fly during the college season; Kharun’s fellow Canadian Josh Liendo has previously been the class of that event in the yards format, but Kharun swam a time of 43.55 in Arizona State’s dual meet against USC, only 0.12 off his lifetime best.
Entering midseason, Kharun and Urlando have nearly lapped this year’s collegiate field in the 200 fly. Urlando’s season-best from October is 1:38.47, a half-second back of Kharun, while the next-fastest swimmer is USC’s Krzysztof Chmielewski at 1:41.16. Chmielewski is an accomplished swimmer in the event, having won World Championship silver medals in 2023 and 2025, but he has never shown the sort of form required to hang with Urlando or Kharun in the 25-yard course.
This week, both Urlando and Kharun will be in action at their respective midseason invitational meets, Urlando at his home pool in Athens, Ga., while Kharun’s Sun Devils travel to Knoxville, Tenn., just 200 miles north, for the CSCAA Dual Meet Challenge. So close but not close enough for anything but a time comparison, with the next showdown between these two butterfly stars at the NCAA Championships still four months away.
