University of Georgia Athletics
Urlando Excited For SECs, What’s Ahead
February 18, 2025 | The Frierson Files, Men's Swimming & Diving
By John Frierson
Staff Writer
Luca Urlando arrived at Georgia long enough ago that he seems like an old-timer inside Gabrielsen Natatorium. And he is, having arrived in the fall of 2020. But between a serious injury and redshirting to prepare for the 2024 Olympics, the swimming superstar could still have two years of eligibility left after this season.
What the future holds, not even he knows, but it looks incredibly bright. And the present is looking great, too, especially as it helps heal any wounds of the past. He's set multiple records this season, even lowering some of his own.
"(Setting records) is like a huge milestone for me. It further proves that the work that I'm doing now is the fruit of my labor, but there's more to come. It's a step along this journey," said Urlando, whose father, Alex, was an All-American discus thrower for Georgia and still holds the school record of 201 feet, 5 inches, set in 1996.
On Tuesday night, Urlando kicked off his SEC Swimming & Diving Championships by competing in the 200-yard medley and 800 freestyle relays in Bauerle Pool. Urlando led off both relays, helping the Bulldogs place fifth in the medley with a time of 21:03 in the leadoff backstroke, and his leadoff time of 1:31.81 in the first 200 helped Georgia earn a bronze medal in the 800 free.
Urlando's pursuit of individual wins begins Wednesday with the 200-yard individual medley, one of four individual events in which he holds the school record (plus he's been part of two record-setting relays). It will be a very busy rest of the week for the native of Sacramento, Calif.
"I'm so excited for this," Urlando said last week of having the SECs in Georgia's pool. "I walked into this morning's practice and could see all of the lane lines ready to go and the race course — it's a good feeling."
This is Urlando's first SEC Championships since he was named the Swimmer of the Meet and earned the SEC Commissioner's Trophy for earning the most points at the 2022 conference meet. Then a sophomore, he won the 100 and 200 butterfly and the 200 IM in that meet, while also helping Georgia place second in the 800 free relay and fourth in three others.
At the 2022 NCAAs, Urlando also led off Georgia's 200-yard medley relay, setting a U.S. Open, American, NCAA SEC and Georgia record in the 100 backstroke. The following November, while competing in the World Aquatics World Cup Series, Urlando's season was cut short by a serious shoulder injury that required surgery. A long recovery period followed, one with an uncertain conclusion.
While redshirting to recover from the surgery and prepare for the 2024 Olympic Trials, Urlando put in the work that he had to. But it required a lot of patience. He's familiar with that, having had to wait four years for his next shot at qualifying for the Olympics after placing third in the 200 fly at the 2021 Olympic Trials with a time of 1:55.43, just behind former Georgia great Gunnar Bentz, who was second in 1:55.34.
"I definitely grew from that moment," Urlando said last summer.
He also grew from his shoulder injury, coming back strong and placing second at the 2024 Olympic Trials in the 200-meter fly. In the 200 fly preliminaries in Paris, Urlando got off to a fast start and led for much of his heat before getting caught by multiple swimmers late and missing out on the semis.
"It was an amazing learning experience," Urlando said of his Paris Olympics. "I learned a whole lot about myself and the preparation that's required to go into a Games of that magnitude — more so on the mental side than the physical side.
"To some degree, I feel like I wasn't able to appreciate it how I wanted to because of the stress that I was kind of building up and had leading into the Games."
Urlando has been making the most of Georgia's Satisky Family Mental Health & Performance Center, doing his best to prepare himself as much mentally as physically. And it's definitely helping, he said.
"That has been huge this entire year," he said. "It's not only good from a performance side, but also just everyday life and interactions. Life is easier to process, and you can apply what we deal with in sports to everything."
Urlando's grandfather, Giampaolo Urlando, competed for Italy in the hammer throw at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. Urlando may get the chance to also compete in L.A. But that's down the road a little bit, with much to be done before the 2028 Olympic Trials.
Last month, in a dual meet at Tennessee, Urlando broke the oldest men's yards record in an NCAA event when the 22-year-old swam a lightning-fast 1:37.17 in the 200-yard butterfly, narrowly topping the previous mark of 1:37.35 set in 2017. Urlando now holds the U.S. Open, American, NCAA, SEC and Georgia records in the 200-yard fly. Later in the meet, he broke his own school record in the 100 fly and won the 200 IM.
A week later, in a meet against Emory, Urlando set a new Bauerle Pool record in the 200-yard backstroke with a personal-best time of 1:38.18. He won a couple of other races that day and was later named the SEC Swimmer of the Week for the second straight week, the fourth time this season and the sixth time in his Georgia career.
"I've been trying to stay in the present, in the moment, and executing the details as well as possible," he said. "I know when I do, successful outcomes usually occur."
Indeed, they do.
Assistant Sports Communications Director John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files.
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