Canada’s Ilya Kharun earns bronze in men’s 200m butterfly final | CBC Sports

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.

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.

Turns out, those comparisons to Michael Phelps don’t seem farfetched at all.

Marchand held up one finger after spotting the “1” beside his name on the scoreboard. He shook his head just a bit, as if he couldn’t quite believe what he had done.

Then, he hustled off the deck to another rousing cheer from the home crowd. He had to start getting ready for his next race.

Kharun will also compete in the 100m butterfly on Friday.

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.

Canadian swimming action continues on Wednesday when Kelsey Wog and Sydney Pickrem compete in the women’s 200m breaststroke semifinals, starting at 4:03 p.m. ET.

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.