3 Years Later, Luca Urlando Returns to File-Breaking Shape, This Time in His Major Match
Lengthy ahead of he swam the quickest time ever within the 200-yard butterfly at a twin meet, Luca Urlando used to be liable for probably the most not likely American data in years. He has ranked a number of the nation’s easiest within the 200 fly for greater than a half-decade, however on the 2022 NCAA Championships, the primary nationwide mark of his profession got here within the 100 backstroke.
Urlando used to be in the middle of a forged meet, having already positioned 3rd within the 200 IM and moment within the 100 fly via a trifling 9 hundredths. Hours after the 100 fly, he swam the leadoff leg for the College of Georgia’s 400 medley relay in warmth 3 of 4, and he touched in 43.35, erasing the former 100 again list held for 6 years via Ryan Murphy. Within the procedure, Urlando knocked a complete moment off his lifetime easiest.
3 years later, Urlando’s newest list within the 200 fly got here in a single minute, 37.17 seconds, breaking a mark set via Jack Conger via 18-hundredths. As soon as once more, Urlando clobbered his personal easiest time, having in the past crowned out at 1:38.82 in a runnerup end to Brendan Burns at that very same 2022 NCAA meet.
In contrast to his earlier list within the 100 again, Urlando were very a lot at the radar for elite 200 butterflyers, having completed moment within the lengthy path model of the development ultimately yr’s U.S. Olympic Trials ahead of striking seventeenth in Paris, however he has now upstaged Ilya Kharun because the nationwide favourite within the match. The Arizona State sophomore gained Olympic bronze in each butterfly occasions final yr, and he gained the NCAA identify over 200 yards in 2024. Kharun’s easiest time is 1:37.93, which ranked him 3rd all-time ahead of Urlando’s astounding effort Saturday.
A race between Kharun and Urlando, with Dare Rose, Gabriel Jett and Aiden Hayes amongst the ones looking to crash the celebration, will likely be a number of the maximum expected of the NCAA Championships, however this is two months away. The fifth-year Georgia swimmer has put himself a number of the nationwide favorites within the 100 fly as smartly after clocking 43.62 towards Tennessee, the quickest time within the nation this season. Within the race, Urlando completed greater than one-and-a-half seconds forward of the former nationwide chief, the Volunteers’ Jordan Crooks.
Luca Urlando — Photograph Courtesy: Peter H. Bick
However ahead of the overall buildup to the NCAA Championships, believe how a ways Urlando has come since dislocating his shoulder mid-race all over the 2022 Global Cup prevent in Indianapolis, an damage which set his profession off path for greater than a yr. After his damage, Urlando didn’t race for seven months, and in his preliminary go back, he best swam freestyle, and he didn’t try to qualify for the 2023 Global Championships. He would no longer try to race butterfly once more till December, and his preliminary effort in his signature match used to be three-and-a-half seconds slower than his easiest time. However he made stable enhancements over the season, getting down into 1:55-territory to transport into competition for an Olympic spot.
His good fortune at Olympic Trials used to be a vital victory bearing in mind the adversity he confronted within the year-and-a-half prior and his slim leave out on the 2021 version of the choice meet. Again then, Urlando were deemed the longer term for the U.S. within the 200 fly, however he overlooked the crew within the match via a slim 9 hundredths. He had already eschewed a possibility at making the Olympics within the 800 unfastened relay when he withdrew from the overall, and he ended up 3rd once more within the 100 fly.
In his Trials go back 3 years later, Urlando expunged the ones demons. He blasted to the entrance of the Trials semifinal box within the 200 fly with a time of one:54.64, his easiest in two years, and he returned within the ultimate to complete moment to Thomas Heilman.
Seven months later, this list is every other profession spotlight for Urlando within the second-to-last school twin meet of his profession. And no longer a slouch list: Conger set the list in 2017, concluding a three-year stretch when he and Texas teammate Joseph Training had blended to decrease the best-ever easiest within the match via virtually two seconds.
“Just immense gratitude for all the people that were there for me through injury,” Urlando stated in a Georgia press liberate. “This has been a special event for me since I was young, so to have that record means a lot.”
Now, Urlando will he get ready for a championship season by which he’s going to be liked to win SEC titles and contend for a large appearing on the NCAA Championships to be held in past due March in Federal Means, Wash. Urlando has been appearing smartly in different occasions as smartly, having beaten his easiest time within the 200 unfastened with a 1:32.05 in Georgia’s earlier twin meet, and he ranks top-10 within the nation within the 200 IM as smartly.
“Unbelievable,” Georgia males’s trainer Neil Versfeld stated within the crew liberate. “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 school profession has ranged from record-setting highs to injury-ravaged lows, however he’s on now observe for a thrilling end.
