Three Years Later, Luca Urlando Returns to Record-Breaking Form, This Time in His Main Event
Long before he swam the fastest time ever in the 200-yard butterfly at a dual meet, Luca Urlando was responsible for one of the most unlikely American records in years. He has ranked among the country’s best in the 200 fly for more than a half-decade, but at the 2022 NCAA Championships, the first national mark of his career came in the 100 backstroke.
Urlando was in the midst of a solid meet, having already placed third in the 200 IM and second in the 100 fly by a mere nine hundredths. Hours after the 100 fly, he swam the leadoff leg for the University of Georgia’s 400 medley relay in heat three of four, and he touched in 43.35, erasing the previous 100 back record held for six years by Ryan Murphy. In the process, Urlando knocked a full second off his lifetime best.
Three years later, Urlando’s latest record in the 200 fly came in one minute, 37.17 seconds, breaking a mark set by Jack Conger by 18-hundredths. Once again, Urlando clobbered his own best time, having previously topped out at 1:38.82 in a runnerup finish to Brendan Burns at that same 2022 NCAA meet.
Unlike his previous record in the 100 back, Urlando had been very much on the radar for elite 200 butterflyers, having finished second in the long course version of the event at last year’s U.S. Olympic Trials before placing 17th in Paris, but he has now upstaged Ilya Kharun as the national favorite in the event. The Arizona State sophomore won Olympic bronze in both butterfly events last year, and he won the NCAA title over 200 yards in 2024. Kharun’s best time is 1:37.93, which ranked him third all-time before Urlando’s astounding effort Saturday.
A race between Kharun and Urlando, with Dare Rose, Gabriel Jett and Aiden Hayes among those trying to crash the party, will be among the most anticipated of the NCAA Championships, but that is two months away. The fifth-year Georgia swimmer has put himself among the national favorites in the 100 fly as well after clocking 43.62 against Tennessee, the fastest time in the country this season. In the race, Urlando finished more than one-and-a-half seconds ahead of the previous national leader, the Volunteers’ Jordan Crooks.
Luca Urlando — Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick
But before the final buildup to the NCAA Championships, consider how far Urlando has come since dislocating his shoulder mid-race during the 2022 World Cup stop in Indianapolis, an injury which set his career off course for more than a year. After his injury, Urlando did not race for seven months, and in his initial return, he only swam freestyle, and he did not attempt to qualify for the 2023 World Championships. He would not attempt to race butterfly again until December, and his initial effort in his signature event was three-and-a-half seconds slower than his best time. But he made steady improvements over the season, getting down into 1:55-territory to move into contention for an Olympic spot.
His success at Olympic Trials was a significant victory considering the adversity he faced in the year-and-a-half prior and his narrow miss at the 2021 edition of the selection meet. Back then, Urlando had been deemed the future for the U.S. in the 200 fly, but he missed the team in the event by a narrow nine hundredths. He had already eschewed a chance at making the Olympics in the 800 free relay when he withdrew from the final, and he ended up third again in the 100 fly.
In his Trials return three years later, Urlando expunged those demons. He blasted to the front of the Trials semifinal field in the 200 fly with a time of 1:54.64, his best in two years, and he returned in the final to finish second to Thomas Heilman.
Seven months later, this record is another career highlight for Urlando in the second-to-last college dual meet of his career. And not a slouch record: Conger set the record in 2017, concluding a three-year stretch when he and Texas teammate Joseph Schooling had combined to lower the all-time best in the event by almost two seconds.
“Just immense gratitude for all the people that were there for me through injury,” Urlando said in a Georgia press release. “This has been a special event for me since I was young, so to have that record means a lot.”
Now, Urlando will he prepare for a championship season in which he will be favored to win SEC titles and contend for a big showing at the NCAA Championships to be held in late March in Federal Way, Wash. Urlando has been performing well in other events as well, having crushed his best time in the 200 free with a 1:32.05 in Georgia’s previous dual meet, and he ranks top-10 in the country in the 200 IM as well.
“Unbelievable,” Georgia men’s coach Neil Versfeld said in the team release. “He is an incredible man to coach. It’s fun every day to see the speeds he can throw down. To have him put a suit on here at the end of January and throw down an American record, it’s very exciting. SECs and NCAAs next month are going to be fun to watch.”
Urlando’s college career has ranged from record-setting highs to injury-ravaged lows, but he is on now track for an exciting finish.
