2026 M. NCAA Previews: Two-Time Defending Champion vs. Two Long Course World Champions In The 1650

2026 NCAA Division I Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships

• Dates: Wednesday, March 25–Saturday, March 28
• Location: McAuley Aquatic Center, Atlanta, GA
• Defending Champions: Texas (1x)
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Men’s 1650 Freestyle — By The Numbers 

• NCAA Record: 14:12.08 — Bobby Finke, Florida (2020)
• Championship Record: 14:12.52 — Bobby Finke, Florida (2021)
• American Record: 14:12.08 — Bobby Finke, Florida (2020)
• U.S. Open Record: 14:12.08 — Bobby Finke, Florida (2020)
• Defending Champion: Zalan Sarkany, Indiana — 14:21.59

While the team race is centered around the Texas Longhorns’ likely title defense, it’s all about the Florida Gators and Indiana Hoosiers in the 1650 freestyle.

The Race For Gold

Zalan Sarkany vs. Ahmed Jaouadi 

Zalan Sarkany (Photo Credit: Jack Spitser)

The top seed and two-time defending champion, Indiana senior Zalan Sarkany, will be front and center this week, but this will be his toughest year yet with two long course world champions entering the fray in Florida teammates Ahmed Jaouadi and Ahmed Hafnaoui.

Sarkany has posted the quickest time in the NCAA this season, courtesy of the 14:23.85 he ripped at the Ohio State Invite in November, then followed that up to win the Big Ten title in a slightly slower 14:25.40, a sign that he could be saving his best for NCAAs, something he struggled with as a freshman in 2024 before executing it perfectly en route to his second straight title a year ago. He’s well ahead of the 14:38.01 he swam to win conference last year before dropping a whopping 17 seconds at Nationals, and if he were to replicate something similar this year, Finke’s records would be in danger.

The problem is, even a drop of that magnitude may not be enough to secure a third straight title, because someone equally capable of putting up those kinds of numbers in a short course pool has arrived. Jaouadi and Sarkany are no strangers to racing one another in short course, having first met at the 2024 Short Course World Championships, where Sarkany took gold in the 800 to Jaouadi’s bronze, 7:30.56 to 7:31.83, with both establishing national records. Jaouadi then stamped his authority in the 1500, clocking 14:16.40 for gold while Sarkany fell to eighth in 14:32.10.

Since then, Sarkany has dropped from 14:23.01 to 14:21.29 in the short course pool, while Jaouadi absolutely exploded in long course, establishing himself as the best overall distance swimmer on the planet.

Ahmed Jaouadi (Photo Credit: Jack Spitser)

At the 2025 World Championships, he swept the 800 and 1500 titles in dominant fashion, first running away with the 800 free in 7:36.88, dropping over five seconds off his personal best to win by three seconds in a new textile world record and the third-fastest swim in history. The only two swims faster were produced in the same heat at the 2009 Worlds, where Zhang Lin clocked 7:32.12 and fellow Tunisian Oussama Mellouli took silver in 7:35.27. He closed out the competition by edging Germany’s Sven Schwarz and Finke in the 1500 free, logging 14:34.41 and winning by just over a second with a 26.35 closing 50 that showcased the finishing speed that makes him so dangerous.

Jaouadi has swum the 1650 just twice in his career, first clocking 14:39.10 at the UGA Invite in November before improving to 14:25.14 to win the SEC title, right on par with Sarkany’s Big Ten winning time but just over a second shy of his national leading time. The key questions are how well he has adapted to the short course pool, and whether he was fully rested at SECs.

It’s worth noting that Finke’s long course personal bests were in the high 14:30s-mid 14:40s when he was swimming 14:12s, and given Jaouadi already has world titles in both pool sizes, an ominous swim feels inevitable, whether that comes this month or over the next three years.

Wildcard For Gold 

Ahmed Hafnaoui (Photo Credit: Fabio Cetti)

Ahmed Hafnaoui arrives at the NCAA Championships as perhaps the biggest wildcard in the field. The Florida Gator has only swum the 1650 free once in his life, clocking 14:30.74 for bronze at SECs behind teammate Jaouadi and Kentucky senior Levi Sandidge, and with limited racing reps across all courses over the past two years, it could take a race or two to fully get into the groove. On the other hand, the upside is enormous; if he was not fully rested for SECs and continues to find his footing in short course yards, he could have the biggest upside of anyone in the field.

His path to this meet has been anything but straightforward. Hafnaoui burst onto the world scene at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, winning gold in the 400 free at just 18 years old with a come-from-behind 3:43.36, marking Tunisia’s first Olympic gold medal in the event. He followed that with a silver in the 1500 free (14:10.94) at the Short Course World Championships later that year (a time that converts to well under Bobby Finke‘s NCAA Record, no less…). After a brief break from racing in 2022, he returned in full force at the 2023 Long Course World Championships, winning both the 800 and 1500 free titles, with his 1500 time of 14:31.54 ranking second all-time (at the time) behind Sun Yang’s then-World Record of 14:31.02, edging out Finke by just five hundredths.

The years since, to put it bluntly, have been turbulent. Hafnaoui briefly joined Indiana for the 2023-2024 season but only competed in two October meets before relocating to California to train with Mark Schubert and The Swim Team, ultimately returning to Tunisia due to visa issues. He struggled at the 2024 World Championships, failing to final in any of his events, and subsequently received a 21-month suspension for three whereabouts failures (which ended in January, when he began swimming meets for the Gators), two of which came while training in America and a third after returning home to Tunisia.

Top 8 Threats

Luke Whitlock (Photo Credit: Jack Spitser)

Indiana sophomore Luke Whitlock, a Paris 2024 Olympian, has largely returned to top form this season after transferring out of Florida early in the 2024-25 campaign, dropping his personal best from 14:50.37 to 14:31.54 to sit sixth in the NCAA on the year.

Kentucky senior Levi Sandidge enters seeded fourth with his 14:30.04 from SECs, a silver medal-worthy swim that he produced behind Jaouadi. Sandidge has historically swum his fastest times of the season at SECs, adding eight seconds at NCAAs in 2023, six in 2024, and less than a second a year ago, though he’s been steadily getting better at performing at the meet year-over-year. If he’s able to be within striking distance of his SECs time, a spot in the top eight seems well within reach.

The Cal men are always key names to watch, regardless of the event, given their knack for saving their best swims for theend of the season. They bring a pair of swimmers with times in the mid-14:30s in Nathan Wiffen (14:34.17, seeded eighth) and Ryan Erisman (14:37.58, seeded ninth), and it seems feasible that one, if not both, find their way into the top eight. It’s worth noting that Wiffen, an Irish native, is swimming yards for the first time this season, and freshman Erisman has already dropped over 20 seconds from his best time through various meets throughout the year.

Noah Millard (Photo Credit: Ryan Samson/Ivy League)

Yale senior Noah Millard really leveled up a year ago, throwing down 14:34.72 at Ivys before going a massive 14:28.43 at NCAAs. He’s been more subdued so far this season, and it appears he’s either having an off year or saving up for a big-time swim at NCAAs. He was beaten out at Ivy Leagues by a freshman, and his conference record was taken down in the process, so the motivation is there for NCAAs.

NC State freshman Max Carlsen and Harvard freshman William Mulgrew find themselves in a similar position heading into the meet, both having had the swims of their lives at their respective conference championships and now facing the question of whether they can hold their form another few weeks.

Carlsen won the 1650 at ACCs, clocking 14:32.68 in a drop of nearly 12 seconds. Mulgrew took out the Ivy League title, chopping 22 seconds off his lifetime best with a 14:26.79 to take down Millard’s Ivy League Record and post the third-fastest time in the country this season.

Both are seeded in the top eight, and if either replicates their conference performance, a top-eight finish is well within reach. The uncertainty, however, is real; as freshmen who have never experienced the NCAA meet and are coming off massive drops at conference, the double taper for the distance events tends to produce either big rewards or significant adds, and there is no way to know which side of that coin they’ll land on until race day.

SwimSwam Picks 

Dark Horse: Luke Ellis (Indiana) – Whitlock’s freshman teammate is another name to watch. Though he’s only been 14:43.01 this season, he posted a career-best 14:29.48 in December 2023 that would have won the 2024 NCAA title outright, when Sarkany logged 14:30.57 to secure the win. The times at the top have improved since then, but anywhere near his personal best could challenge for the top four or five, while anything around his season best likely leaves him outside the top eight.