Luca Urlando

Gianluca Urlando (born March 16, 2002) is an American competitive swimmer.

He is the American record holder in the men's 100 yard backstroke and a world junior record holder in the men's 4×200 meter freestyle relay and the 4×100 meter mixed freestyle relay.

As a sophomore (second year) in the NCAA for the Georgia Bulldogs at the 2022 NCAA Division I Championships, he became the first person to swim the 100 yard backstroke and 100 yard butterfly each in less than 44 seconds.

Urlando was born March 16, 2002, in Sacramento, California.

His family has a history of athletic performance, his mother was a high school swimmer, his father was a national champion for Italy in discus throw, his grandmother was a member of the Italian national team in javelin throw, and his grandfather was a three-time Olympian for Italy in the hammer throw.

Growing up, he trained under the guidance of Billy Doughty and competed for the Davis Aquadarts.

The next month, Urlando swam a 1:53.84 and broke the national age group record of 1:53.93 in the long course 200 meter butterfly, which was a world record when it was set in 2003 by Michael Phelps, for the boys 17–18 age group at the TYR Pro Swim Series meet in Clovis, California.

Later in the same session, Urlando placed 12th in the semifinals of the 100 meter butterfly with a 53.24 and did not qualify for the final.

In the final of the 4×100 meter mixed freestyle relay, he won his third gold medal, splitting a 49.66 for the lead-off leg of the relay to contribute to the final time of 3:25.92 and help break the world junior record and Championships record by over 0.70 seconds.

For the 50 meter butterfly, Urlando did not start the race.

He won a fourth gold medal the same day, swimming a 1:47.13 for the second leg of the 4×200 meter freestyle relay and helping set new world junior and Championships records.

In his seventh and final event of the Championships, Urlando won his fifth gold medal, this time placing first in the 200 meter butterfly with a time of 1:55.02.

For the events in which he did not compete in the finals, Urlando placed 15th in the prelims heats of the 200 meter freestyle with a 1:49.98 and did not start the 100 meter freestyle nor the 200 meter individual medley.

He followed up the relay with a first-place finish in the final of the 200 yard individual medley in 1:41.19, breaking the pool record of 1:41.28 set by Chase Kalisz in 2017.

Day three of competition, Urlando ranked first in the prelims heats of the 100 yard butterfly in 45.32 and qualified for the final.

He swam a time of 44.41 seconds in the final to win the event and break the pool record of 44.87 seconds set by Caeleb Dressel in 2017.

At the 2018 Junior Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in Suva, Fiji, Urlando won gold medals in the 100 meter butterfly, 200 meter butterfly, 4×100 meter medley relay, and 4×100 mixed medley relay, a silver medal in the 200 meter individual medley, placed first in the b-final of the 4×200 meter freestyle relay, where he helped set a Championships record of 3:47.01, was disqualified in the 400 meter individual medley for not finishing the race on his back, and was declared a false start in the 200 meter backstroke.

Later in the year, in December at the 2018 Speedo Winter Junior Championships, he set a new national age group record in the 200 yard butterfly with a 1:40.91 for the boys 15–16 age group, breaking the former record of 1:42.10 set by Michael Phelps in 2002.

At the 2019 World Junior Championships, he won gold medals in the 200 meter freestyle, 200 meter butterfly, 4×100 meter freestyle relay, 4×200 meter freestyle relay, and 4×100 meter mixed freestyle relay.

In May 2019, at the 2019 Mel Zajac Jr. International Meet in Vancouver, Canada, Urlando became the first American swimmer to swim the long course 200 meter butterfly faster than 1:54.40 seconds since Michael Phelps in 2016 with a time of 1:54.35.

A little over one month later, he won the national title in the 200 meter butterfly with a 1:54.92 at the 2019 US National Championships in Stanford, California.

In the b-final of the 200 meter freestyle he took first-place with a personal best time of 1:46.51.

He also placed eighth in the final of the 100 meter butterfly with a 52.31 and did not start the 400 meter freestyle.

Prior to the start of competition at the 2019 World Junior Championships in Budapest, Hungary at Danube Arena in August, Urlando was selected as one of the five captains for the United States team of swimmers.

He won a total of five gold medals as part of competition.

He won his first gold medal in the 4×100 meter freestyle relay, where he split a 48.73 for the second leg of the relay in the final to help achieve a world junior record and Championships record time of 3:15.80.

For his second gold medal, Urlando won the 200 meter freestyle with a time of 1:46.97, finishing 0.06 seconds ahead of silver medalist in the event Robin Hanson of Sweden.

In December 2019, at the 2019 U.S. Open Championships in Atlanta, Georgia, Urlando won the gold medal in the 200 meter butterfly with a Championships record time of 1:55.60.

For the 100 meter butterfly, he placed fifth with a time of 52.59 seconds.

He also won the b-final of the 400 meter freestyle in 3:52.69, finishing 0.09 seconds ahead of second-place finisher Bobby Finke.

He graduated from C. K. McClatchy High School before he started attending the University of Georgia in the autumn of 2020, where he is majoring in sport management and competes collegiately for the Georgia Bulldogs swim team.

At the 2020 US Olympic Trials in Omaha, Nebraska, and held in June 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Urlando placed sixth in the semifinals of the 200 meter freestyle with a 1:46.93 and did not swim in the final of the event.

For his next event, the 200 meter butterfly, he placed third in the final with a 1:55.43.

In his third and final event, he took third-place in the final of the 100 meter butterfly with a personal best time of 51.64 seconds, which was less than half a second slower than second-place finisher Tom Shields.

His sophomore year (second year in the NCAA) as part of the Georgia Bulldogs, Urlando won the 100 yard butterfly with a time of 46.37 seconds and the 200 yard butterfly in 1:44.41 at a dual meet against the Tennessee Volunteers in January 2022.

In the pre-scratch stage of lead-up to the 2022 Southeastern Conference, SEC, Championships, Urlando entered to compete in the 200 yard individual medley, 100 yard butterfly, 200 yard butterfly, 100 yard backstroke, 200 yard backstroke, and 100 yard freestyle.

For his first event of the 2022 Southeastern Conference Championships, Urlando swam a 19.57 for the butterfly leg of the 4×50 yard medley relay to contribute to a final time of 1:23.92 and overall fourth-place finish.

Later in the same finals session, he split a 1:32.24 on the second leg of the 4×200 yard freestyle relay, helping finish second with a 6:09.32.

For the prelims heats of the 200 yard individual medley the following day, he ranked as the fastest swimmer by over a quarter of a second with a 1:42.75 and qualified for the final.

Later in the day, Urlando helped achieve a fourth-place finish in the final of the 4×50 yard freestyle relay, splitting a 19.00 for the second leg of the relay.