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Men’s 200 Fly (Luca Urlando)
The 200 butterfly saw a phenomenal swim last week when Hungarian Kristof Milak, on the strength of a dominant back half, took down the 10-year-old world record of Michael Phelps with a time of 1:50.73 at Worlds. But another high-quality swim came courtesy of rising American standout Luca Urlando on Wednesday night. Claiming the gold medal in 1:54.92, Urlando continued to establish himself as a future international threat in the event.
Last week, Milak was asked after the 200 fly semifinal if he was hoping to race Urlando to which he replied, “next year we will meet and decide who is the best.”
Just a month after breaking a Phelps NAG in the 200 fly, Urlando pulled away from the field during the second half of the race. While he wasn’t able to replicate his sub-1:54 effort from earlier in the summer, Urlando prevailed by more than a second. More, his time would have placed sixth at the World Champs. Urlando, with a full schedule at Nationals, is expected to qualify for several events at the approaching World Junior Championships.
Taking the silver medal was Miles Smachlo with a time of 1:55.94, and capturing the bronze was Nicolas Albiero with a time of 1:56.05. Following closely behind in fourth was Trenton Julian (1:56.09), with fifth going to Bowen Gough (1:56.65) and sixth to Brooks Fail (1:57.00). In Seventh was Corey Gambardella (1:57.32), and in eighth was Justin Wright (1:58.79), a member of the U.S. team that raced at Worlds.
