American Record holder and World Junior Champion Luca Urlando will return to compete for the Georgia Bulldogs this upcoming season after taking an Olympic Redshirt in the 2023-2024 season.
Urlando has not swam for the team since October 2022 when he competed in a dual meet. He also competed at a World Cup stop in October 2022 but had to be helped out of the pool during the 100 IM after dislocating his shoulder. He eventually underwent surgery on that shoulder.
He returned to competition in June 2023 at the Sun Devil Open but did not compete in 2023 US Summer Nationals. Although he primarily is a backstroke and butterflyer, he only competed in the freestyle events last summer. His first return to the 200 butterfly was at the 2023 US Open in December. He finished 6th in the 200 fly in a 1:57.38.
Since his return to the 200 butterfly at the US Open, he has raced the event at all three of the Pro Swim stops in 2024. His season best stands at a 1:55.63 which is the 2nd fastest time for the American men so far this season.
Urlando’s return to Georgia helps boost the team’s roster which suffers heavy losses after an 11th place finish at the 2024 NCAA Championships in March.
The team was led by Jake Magahey this past season at NCAAs as he scored 32 individual points. Magahey has already announced he will return for his COVID-19 fifth year.
Out of the team’s nine individual NCAA qualifiers, four of those were graduate students while the graduate students made up 26 of the team’s 116 points. Urlando’s return will help fill in those individual losses as Urlando scored 26 points at 2021 NCAAs and 50 points at 2022 NCAAs.
In addition to his individual contribution, Urlando’s return also brings in key relay value. Urlando broke the 100 backstroke American Record swimming a 43.35 lead off leg on the team’s 400 medley relay at 2022 NCAAs. He also swam on all five of the team’s relays in 2021 and was in four relays in 2022.
Leave a Reply