SINGAPORE – University of Georgia graduate swimmer Luca Urlando continued his historic year with a world championship in the 200-meter butterfly Wednesday at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships at the World Aquatics Championships Arena.
 
Urlando touched first with a personal-best time of 1:51.87, taking the race by over eight-tenths of a second. With the time, the Sacramento native became the fourth-fastest performer in history in the event and only the second American to go sub 1:52, joining Michael Phelps. He also became the first American man to win a gold medal at this year’s World Championships.
 
Urlando’s gold medal capped off a tremendous comeback season, including the world championship, U.S. championship, NCAA championship, and SEC championship in the 200 butterfly. During the 2025 campaign, he posted the four fastest long course times of his career and set two American short course records after recovering from a shoulder injury in November 2022.
 
Urlando was one of three Bulldog men competing at the World Championships, including junior Tomas Koski (Finland) and redshirt junior Kristian Pitshugin (Israel). Koski placed 20^th in the 200m freestyle (1:47.34) and 39^th in the 100m freestyle (49.67), while Pitshugin took 22^nd in the 50m breaststroke (27.30).