2025 World Championships
- July 27 – August 3, 2025 (pool swimming)
- Singapore, Singapore
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After a 14-year drought, the United States finally made it back on the podium in the men’s 200 butterfly at the World Championships, and they did so in style.
Luca Urlando backed up his impressive preliminary and semi-final swims on Tuesday by winning the final in decisive fashion, clocking 1:51.87 to join Kristof Milak, Leon Marchand and Michael Phelps in the exclusive sub-1:52 club.
The victory for Urlando marked not only the first world title for the U.S. men in the 200 fly since 2011, it’s their first medal in the event since Phelps’ victory in Shanghai 14 years ago.
After winning silver in the 200 fly at the 2012 Olympics, Phelps’ brief retirement saw him out of the field at the 2013 World Championships. In Barcelona, the top American finisher was Tom Luchsinger in 5th place, marking the first time the U.S. didn’t win the 200 fly at the World Championships since 2005, when Phelps opted to experiment with some new events and didn’t contest his pet event, which he also won in 2001 and 2003.
Then, after Phelps returned to action in 2014, he was removed from the 2015 World Championship team after USA Swimming suspended him following a DUI arrest in the fall of 2014. However, Phelps did not race the 200 fly in the summer of 2014, so he wouldn’t have been contesting the event anyway at the 2015 Worlds in Kazan, where he was slated to race the 100 free, 100 fly and 200 IM before his suspension.
So, despite the fact that the Americans have won Olympic gold (Phelps in 2016) and silver (Phelps in 2012) in the men’s 200 fly in the last 14 years, they hadn’t reached the World Championship podium until Urlando did so on Wednesday.
Their closest call came at the 2023 championships in Fukuoka, when Thomas Heilman tied for 4th, while Urlando himself was 5th in 2022.
Top American Finishers, Men’s 200 Fly (Worlds 2013-2024)
| World Championship | Top American | Finish | Time (Final) |
| 2013 | Tom Luchsinger | 5th | 1:55.70 |
| 2015 | Tom Shields | 8th | 1:56.17 |
| 2017 | Jack Conger | 5th | 1:54.88 |
| 2019 | Zach Harting | 6th | 1:55.69 |
| 2022 | Luca Urlando | 5th | 1:54.92 |
| 2023 | Thomas Heilman | 4th (tie) | 1:53.82 |
| 2024 | Zach Harting | 11th | 1:56.81 |
At last summer’s Olympics in Paris, Heilman was the top American finisher in 10th, while Urlando didn’t earn a second swim, placing 17th in the prelims.
However, his turnaround in the last 12 months has been incredible following a prolonged period of battling injuries, setting the NCAA on fire by resetting the 200 fly American Record multiple times in short course yards and ultimately winning the national title, and then a few days after that, in early April, he followed up with a massive best time in the long course 200 fly, clocking 1:52.37 to rank #4 all-time.
“Winning a world championship was my goal from the beginning of the season,” Urlando said. “To be able to actually do it is a whole other thing and doing it in best time fashion… I truly can’t put it into words. I hope to just build off more experiences like this. It’s a huge stepping stone for 2028.”
Urlando’s swim on Wednesday maintains his place as the fourth-fastest man ever, but puts him in the sub-1:52 club and makes him faster than Phelps was in a textile suit (1:52.09).
All-Time Performers, Men’s 200 Butterfly (lCM)
- Kristof Milak (HUN), 1:50.34 – 2022
- Leon Marchand (FRA), 1:51.21 – 2024
- Michael Phelps (USA), 1:51.51 – 2009
- Luca Urlando (USA), 1:51.87 – 2025
- Daiya Seto (JPN), 1:52.53 – 2020
There were almost two North American swimmers on the podium in the 200 fly, as Canadian Ilya Kharun (1:54.34) placed 4th and American Carson Foster (1:54.62) took 5th after Kharun won Olympic bronze last summer in Paris. The gold and silver medalists from the Olympics, Leon Marchand and Kristof Milak, were both out of the field in Singapore, which opened the door for Urlando.
OTHER DAY 4 NORTH AMERICA HIGHLIGHTS
- Claire Weinstein set her second personal best time in as many days in the women’s 200 freestyle, winning bronze in the final in a time of 1:54.67 to knock two one-hundredths off her PB from the semis. The swim marks her first individual LC World Championship medal, matching the bronze she won in the 200 free at the 2024 Short Course World Championships.
- The Canadian team won its first relay medal of the competition in the mixed medley, doing so without Summer McIntosh as Kylie Masse (58.69), Oliver Dawson (59.63), Josh Liendo (49.64) and Taylor Ruck (52.94) combined for a time of 3:40.90 to edge out the Netherlands (3:40.97) and Australia (3:41.02) for bronze. The performance marked a new National Record and is their second time reaching the podium in this event after tying for bronze in 2017. The 100 fly split for Liendo makes him the third-fastest performer ever.
- Jack Alexy blasted his way to a new American Record and the top seed for tomorrow’s final of the men’s 100 freestyle, clocking a blistering time of 46.81 in the semis to erase Caeleb Dressel‘s National Record of 46.96 from 2019. Alexy moves up to #3 all-time in the event, only trailing Pan Zhanle (46.40) and David Popovici (46.71). World Championship debutant Patrick Sammon also cracked the final, putting up a time of 47.62 to advance in 7th.
- Regan Smith clocked 27.23 to lead the semis of the women’s 50 back, while American teammate Katharine Berkoff (27.34) and Canadians Ingrid Wilm (27.48) and Masse (27.50) also moved through to the final.
- Not too long later, McIntosh (2:06.22), Smith (2:06.96) and Caroline Bricker (2:07.86) qualified for the final of the women’s 200 fly, with McIntosh and Smith going 1-2 in the second semi and advancing 2nd and 3rd overall.
- Behind Leon Marchand‘s earth-shattering world record, Shaine Casas set a new personal best and moved to #6 all-time in the semis of the men’s 200 IM, registering a time of 1:55.13 to qualify 2nd for the final, while Carson Foster backed up his 5th-place finish in the 200 fly by sneaking into the 200 IM final in 8th (1:57.49).
- In the opening event of the night, American Bobby Finke was in the thick of the fight for a spot on the podium for three-quarters of the men’s 800 freestyle final, but fell off the pace down the stretch and ultimately settled for 4th in a time of 7:46.42.
North America Medal Table Through Day 4
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | USA | 3 | 5 | 4 | 12 |
| 2 | Canada | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
Overall Medal Table Through Day 4
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | Australia | 4 | 1 | 3 | 8 |
| 2 | United States | 3 | 5 | 4 | 12 |
| 3 | Germany | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 4 | Canada | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| 5 | Italy | 1 | 4 | 1 | 6 |
| 6 | China | 1 | 3 | 2 | 6 |
| 7 | Neutral Athletes B | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 8 | France | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 9 | Romania | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| South Africa | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| Tunisia | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 12 | Belgium | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Poland | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| Switzerland | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| 15 | Japan | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Kyrgyzstan | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Netherlands | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| South Korea | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Good