U.S. Nationals, Day One Men’s Finals: Luca Urlando Holds Off Ilya Kharun in 200 Fly Showdown; Caeleb Dressel is Back!
The first men’s final of U.S. Nationals featured 200 butterfly world champion Luca Urlando facing off against one of his top rivals, Olympic bronze medalist Ilya Kharun. Having previously represented Canada in international competition, Kharun is in the process of changing his sporting nationality to the United States.
Following that 200 fly, many of the top sprinters in the country raced in the 100 freestyle final, with Caeleb Dressel coming out on top, and Will Mulgrew came out on top in the men’s 1500 free.
Men’s 200 Butterfly
After winning the world title in the men’s 200 fly last year, Luca Urlando experienced a difficult start to 2026, an injury forcing him out of the NCAA Championships and much of the spring and summer season. But Urlando appears to be rounding into form in advance of the Pan Pacific Championships, set to take place in two weeks in the same Irvine, Calif., pool. Urlando picked up a U.S. national title in his main event while holding off a furious finish from Ilya Kharun.
Urlando took over the lead at the halfway point with a time of 53.97 while Kharun sat in eighth place, almost one-and-a-half seconds back. Kharun remained in seventh position entering the final length, but he uncorked a blazing 29.49 closing split to nearly overtake Urlando. In the end, though, Urlando finished in 1:54.45 to Kharun’s 1:54.59.
Urlando, clearly unshaved in this final, will have his eyes on a much quicker performance at Pan Pacs, having gone 1:51.87 last year to become the fourth-fastest performer in history. But the 200 fly has featured relatively slow times around the world this year, so Urlando now ranks third in the world behind France’s Leon Marchand and Japan’s Tomoyuki Matsushita while Kharun takes over the fourth spot.
Also finishing well was Wisconsin’s Enzo Solitario, who moved from sixth to third on the last length. Solitario touched in 1:54.99 to conclude a day when he annihilated his best time. Coming in with a top mark of 1:57.15, he clocked 1:55.45 in prelims before now breaking through to 1:54 territory and moving into a tie for No. 11 in the world this year. Tyler Ray, meanwhile, dropped almost three seconds in a day on his way to a fourth-place time of 1:55.11.
Men’s 100 Freestyle
The man who has been the backbone of United States swimming for a decade showed he’s still a factor in the sprint events. Coming off his first sub-48 performance since 2024 in the morning prelims, Caeleb Dressel dialed up a 47.70 outing in the final, that swim good for a national title. Dressel got to the wall ahead of Brooks Curry, who blazed through the front half of the race and finished in 47.81 for second place.
While Dressel represented the United States at the 2024 Olympic Games, the veteran hasn’t been the dominant athlete who won triple gold in individual events at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. But the former University of Florida standout showed he still has some fire, as he went out in 22.54 and came home in 25.16. At the finish, Dressel closed his eyes and eventually straddled the lane line while savoring an obviously meaningful victory.
Dressel will not be at next month’s Pan Pacific Championships, but his triumph should supply plenty of momentum on the way to the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. More, Dressel should be fueled by the performance when he climbs the blocks at Nationals for the 50 freestyle, 50 butterfly and 100 butterfly.
Curry was out in 22.26 at the turn, .02 under world-record pace, and although he faded down the stretch, Curry still managed a strong mark of 47.81. Curry was followed to the wall by Patrick Sammon (47.87) and Maximus Williamson (47.99).
Men’s 1500 Freestyle
In the final heat of the men’s 1500 free, Will Mulgrew maintained a narrow lead over top-seeded teenager Luka Mijatovic for the first half of the race, but he stretched out the lead as he approached the 1000-meter mark and continued pulling away. Mulgrew maintained splits between 30.1 and 30.6 for 950 meters before dropping down to 28.08 coming home. That allowed him to dip under the 15:00-barrier for the first time.
Mulgrew’s final time was 14:58.30, knocking exactly seven seconds off his previous lifetime best. Meanwhile, Sean Green overtook Mijatovic for second place on the 25th of 30 laps and held on to finish in 15:07.03 to Mijatovic’s 15:08.12. Ahmed Hafnaoui, the Tunisian world champion in the event back in 2019, placed fourth with a time of 15:14.43 in the early heats.
