Luca Urlando

Background

Given his sporting roots, it’s no surprise that Luca Urlando found himself destined be an athlete. While his mother, Milissa, was a competitive swimmer through high school, his father, Alex was a national champion for Italy in the discus throw, and both his paternal grandparents were throwers on the Italian national track and field team, with his grandfather, Giampaolo, setting the Italian national record in the hammer throw and competing in three straight Olympic Games.

Luca first started to swim when he was just two, taking his early instructions from his mom. From those beginnings, Luca started swimming in Summer League and then swam for both the Davis Aquanauts club and for C.K. McClatchy High School in Sacramento, where he set a public high school record in the 100y butterfly with a time of 45.88, before going on to the FINA World Junior Championships, where he took home gold medals in the 200m freestyle, 200m butterfly, 400m freestyle relay, 800m freestyle relay and mixed 400m freestyle relay.

Enrolling at his father’s alma mater, the University of Georgia, Luca made an immediate impact for the Bulldogs, finishing fourth in the 200y butterfly and eighth in the 100y butterfly at the NCAA Championships and winning the 200y butterfly at the SEC Championships. The following year, Luca won the 100y butterfly, 200y butterfly and 200y individual medley at the SEC Championships, before finishing second in the 100y butterfly and 200y butterfly, and third in the 200y individual medley at the NCAA Championships. Later that summer, Luca finished fifth in the final of the 200m butterfly at the World Aquatics Championships in Budapest.

After missing the 2023 season due to injury, Luca came back in 2024 to finish second in the 200m butterfly at the US Olympic Trials, earning him a place on Team USA for the Paris Olympic Games, where he finished seventeenth. The following year, Luca returned to full form and won the 200y butterfly at the NCAA Championships in a new US record of 1:36.43, as well as third in the 100y butterfly. That summer, Luca won the 200m butterfly at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore, his first senior global championships title.