By James Sutherland on SwimSwam
With Ilya Kharun announcing his plans to represent the United States in international competition moving forward, the bar in American men’s butterfly has been raised.
Over the last decade, the U.S. men have largely relied on Caeleb Dressel to deliver medals on the global stage in the sprint butterfly events, while the 200 fly has been a flop at the Olympics and World Championships outside of Michael Phelps winning Olympic gold in 2016 and Luca Urlando claiming the world title last summer.
Prior to Urlando’s victory at the 2025 World Championships, the American men hadn’t won a medal in the 200 fly at Worlds since Phelps won gold in 2011. At the Olympics, the U.S. had no finalists in the 200 fly in Paris after their best finish in Tokyo was 7th.
In the 100 fly, Dressel followed up back-to-back world titles in 2017 and 2019 by winning Olympic gold in 2021, and then Dare Rose got on the podium with a bronze medal at the 2023 World Championships. However, they had no finalists at the 2024 Olympics in the event, and at the 2025 Worlds, the Americans didn’t even have a swimmer advance to the semis.
The addition of Kharun brings stability to the discipline. His two bronze medals at the Paris Olympics are more than the U.S. has won in men’s butterfly over the past two Games combined, and he’s seemingly been able to consistently improve.
Last year (Jan. 1-Dec. 31, 2025), he would’ve ranked #1 among Americans in the 100 fly, sitting 3rd in the world, while in the 200 fly, he would sit 2nd to Urlando, finishing 4th in the world.
U.S. Men’s 100 Fly World Rankings – 2025 (Including Kharun)
Ilya Kharun, 50.07 – 2025 World Championships Shaine Casas, 50.24 – 2025 U.S. Open Thomas Heilman, 50.70 – 2025 U.S. National Championships Dare Rose, 50.93 – 2025 Speedo Grand Challenge Trenton Julian, 51.18 – 2025 U.S. National Championships Aiden Hayes, 51.24 – 2025 U.S. National Championships Luca Urlando, 51.32 – 2025 Pro Swim Series – Sacramento Caeleb Dressel, 51.33 – 2025 U.S. Open Kamal Muhammad, 51.89 – 2025 U.S. National Championships Matthew Klinge, 52.11– 2025 U.S. National ChampionshipsU.S. Men’s 200 Fly World Rankings – 2025 (Including Kharun)
Luca Urlando, 1:51.87 – 2025 World Championships Ilya Kharun, 1:53.41 – 2025 Canadian Swimming Trials Carson Foster, 1:53.70 – 2025 U.S. National Championships Thomas Heilman, 1:54.03 – 2025 U.S. National Championships Gabriel Jett, 1:54.87 – 2025 U.S. National Championships Trenton Julian, 1:54.89 – 2025 U.S. Summer Championships Mason Laur, 1:54.97 – 2025 U.S. National Championships Jack Dahlgren, 1:55.18 – 2025 U.S. National Championships Mitchell Schott, 1:55.86 – 2025 U.S. National Championships Ryan Branon, 1:56.45 – 2025 Longhorn Elite InviteIn the all-time rankings, Kharun’s best times would rank #3 all-time among Americans in the 100 fly, only trailing Dressel (49.45) and Phelps (49.82), while in the 200 fly, he would also sit 3rd behind Phelps (1:51.51) and Urlando (1:51.87).
As for the 50 fly, a new Olympic event for 2028, Kharun would have also been the fastest American last year, with his 22.68 clocking from the Canadian Trials ranking 4th in the world. No Americans were under 23 seconds, with Dare Rose ranking 2nd at 23.02.
Dressel is the only U.S. man who has ever been faster than Kharun in the 50, setting the American Record of 22.35 back in 2019.
With the combination of Urlando and Kharun, the U.S. could easily be favored to go 1-2 in the 200 fly by the time we get to the 2027 World Championships, but we also can’t forget about Thomas Heilman, the up-and-coming teen who tied Kharun for 4th in the 200 fly back at the 2023 World Championships in a time of 1:53.82, and Carson Foster, who represented the U.S. alongside Urlando at the 2025 Worlds and placed 5th.
Things quickly become crowded in the 200 fly with the addition of Kharun, while in the 100 fly, things are even more up in the air, given the high-end ability (but also inconsistency) of Shaine Casas, the question of where Dressel will be next year, and Heilman and Rose are also capable of going 50-point.
As for the freestyle events, Kharun has shown an elite ability in the 50 and 100 free in short course yards, and he’s excelled in short course meters in the 50, but he’s yet to really show that in the long course pool, with best times sitting at 22.06 in the 50 and 49.37 in the 100.
Though he won’t be competing for the U.S. team at the 2026 Pan Pacs, Kharun will be eligible to contest the selection meet for the Short Course World Championships in the fall, with him officially able to compete for the U.S. on October 26, 2026.
Then, in 2027, he’ll be a leading candidate to make the American team for the LC World Championships in all three butterfly events, making an already crowded U.S. butterfly picture even harder to crack for everyone else.
Read the full story on SwimSwam: Ilya Kharun Gives U.S. Lethal 1-2 Punch In 200 Fly, Becomes Top American In 100 Fly
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