Sacramento swimmer is a 2028 Olympics hopeful. Can he break Michael Phelps’ mark?

The journey has been anything but linear for Luca Urlando, even as he dedicates his life to the swim lane.

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After drawing comparisons to Michael Phelps as a teenager, the now-24-year-old Sacramento native has dealt with multiple injuries that have threatened his swimming career. Urlando missed out on the 2021 Tokyo Olympics by a fraction of a second, placing third among Americans, and missed the 2024 Paris Olympics semifinals by one spot, placing 17th.

But now, he might be peaking at just the right time.

“Every setback has made me better in some way or form,” Urlando said in an interview Thursday at the North Natomas Aquatics Complex. “If I execute my race strategy and really hone in on some other details outside the pool, I’ll get those results that I have really dreamed about.”

Those results, he hopes, will come at the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, where he is expected to at least be in contention for one of the top spots. Urlando holds the American record in the 200-yard butterfly with a 1:36.41 he swam in November 2025. The Olympic 200 is in meters (about 219 yards).

Training begins for 2028

With 2028 already in his mind, Urlando had initially been scheduled to kick off his competitive prep this week at a TYR Pro Series meet in Sacramento at the North Natomas Aquatics Complex.

However, his appearance was scratched due to the lingering effects of a “minor injury” that kept him out of March’s NCAA Championship while with the University of Georgia, though he still attended and signed autographs Thursday.

“I’ve had about a month back into full training, so my coach and I decided that it wouldn’t be best to compete right now, as I’m still kind of getting back in shape,” Urlando said. “I’m confident with the program that we have and looking forward to competing later this summer.”

The TYR Pro Series is USA Swimming’s traveling professional competition series and the Natomas event was hosted by DART Swimming, which Urlando was a part of before going to college, including during his time as a student at McClatchy High School.

Since coming home from Georgia after his final season with the Bulldogs swim team, Urlando said he has been training with DART coach Billy Doughty, who he worked with for years before college.

Though he’s been at Georgia for the bulk of the last six years, Urlando said he’s excited to be back in Sacramento for his training and still remembers everything he loves about the city.

“It’s really cool,” Urlando said of being home. “Springtime is always my favorite time in Sacramento. Before it gets too hot, everything’s blooming. Allergies are not great right now, but no, it’s great to be back. My tan is back again, too.”

Time at Georgia had ups and downs

At Georgia, Urlando made a lot of history in the pool, but also had his fair share of low points, including when he had to sit out of the NCAA Championships in March, which he said he is “still processing.”

“It hurt a lot to watch,” Urlando said. “Overall, I’ve had an extremely positive experience at Georgia. If you’re there for six years, I think it was pretty solid.”

Urlando held the American record in the 100-yard backstroke for three years, and he holds Georgia records in a variety of events including the 200-yard individual medley, freestyle relays and others, showing his diversity of strengths.

However, his big event has always been the 200-yard butterfly, even back to his days at DART Swimming.

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“Fly chose me,” Urlando said.

As a freshman prodigy at Georgia, Urlando placed fourth at the NCAA Championships in the 200 butterfly during the 2020-21 season, before finishing second the next year.

A shoulder injury just after he missed out on the 2021 Tokyo Olympics took Urlando out of competition for most of the season and led to him redshirting the year after in preparation for the 2024 Olympics.

With the top 16 swimmers advancing to the semifinals in Paris, Urlando placed 17th on July 30, 2024, with a 1:56.18 after getting caught at the last minute, another setback in a career that had once looked like it would produce a sure-thing Olympic champion.

But that was only the beginning.

“I would say just really trying to learn as much as possible from either mistakes or in possible improvements,” Urlando said of his takeaways from the 2024 Olympics. “I’m taking this sport with grace, and really appreciating the high moments, and working through the low ones.”

Will injury be a setback for 2028?

Before his injury earlier this year, Urlando appeared to hit his stride after the Paris Olympics, swimming a 1:51.87 in the 200-meter butterfly at the 2025 World Championships, the second-fastest American time in history, behind Phelps (1:51.51).

“It has felt like a six-year process to get back to this moment,” Urlando said in an interview on Peacock after the race. “A lot of doubt, a lot of really hard times, a lot of things that people don’t see on an everyday basis. … Obviously, doing it on a world stage like this is just absolutely amazing.”

Whether his current injury will impact his 200 butterfly time significantly is still unclear, though this wouldn’t be the first time Urlando bounced back from an injury.

One thing Urlando said he has learned by dealing with multiple injuries is to be patient with himself during the recovery process.

“I’m understanding that it’s going to be a journey to get to the next meet and really just trying to listen as much as possible to what my body and my mind need at the moment and then just taking it one day at a time and progressing from there,” Urlando said.

In 2019, Phelps told the New York Times that Urlando, then 17, “has talent,” as the Sacramento youngster looked to take the 28-time-medalist’s helm at the forefront of the 200-meter butterfly, in which Phelps held the world record from 2001 until July 2019, when Phelps’ mark was overtaken by Kristóf Milák of Hungary.

Urlando said he will always look up to Phelps and said he is excited to have another American competing at the highest level in the 200 butterfly.

“Part of me is still in that mindset that I’m 12-years-old and all these are still dreams of mine to do,” Urlando said. “Doing them is like a whole ‘nother feeling and it’s really out-of-body.”

Urlando said he will be back in the pool by the U.S. National Championships beginning July 28 in Irvine, as the road to L.A. begins for the Sacramento native.

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