2026 M. NCAA Previews: Three 43.2s, A 43.3, & Six Total Sub-44s Headline Loaded Men’s 100 Back

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 100 Backstroke — By The Numbers 

• NCAA Record: 43.20 — Hubert Kos, Texas (2025)
• Championship Record: 43.20 — Hubert Kos, Texas (2025)
• American Record: 43.26 — Will Modglin, Texas (2025)
• U.S. Open Record: 43.20 — Hubert Kos, Texas (2025)
• 2025 Champion: Hubert Kos, Texas — 43.20

If there is one race at the 2026 NCAA Championships that exemplifies just how fast men’s college swimming has become, it’s the 100 backstroke.

Cal legend Ryan Murphy held the NCAA Record in the event from 2016 to 2022 with his 43.49, and this year four swimmers enter with a personal best under that mark.

Two Texas Longhorns Chasing The Records

Hubert Kos (Photo Credit: Jack Spitser)

It’s hard to argue against Texas senior Hubert Kos being the slight favorite; he’s the defending champion, the fastest man in the event’s history, and despite not appearing at meets until January after spending the fall focused on international competition, namely the World Cup where he walked away as the overall champion, he took down his Longhorn teammate and national leader Will Modglin at SECs, 43.86 to 44.00, in what was his third-fastest performance ever.

While Kos holds the most of the accolades, Modglin enters as the national leader courtesy of his 43.26 American Record from the Texas Invite in November, a time just six hundredths off Kos’ all-time mark.

On paper the two are essentially even, though they swim the race quite differently. Modglin, on the cusp of becoming the first man under 20 seconds in the 50 back, cranks the opening 50, while Kos, the best 200 backstroker in the world over the past decade, closes hard over the final 50. When Kos set his record he split 20.99/22.21, while Modglin split 20.63/22.63, showing just how different their approaches are.

For Modglin, he’s already dropped from 43.91 to 43.26 in the front half of the season, and over the first two years of his career he has struggled to replicate his best times at the NCAA meet, typically peaking at either midseason or conference. Given he went a more subdued 44.00 for silver at SECs, it seems like his training is really geared towards NCAAs compared to previous years.

The golden question: can either of them go sub-43?

Based on Kos’ short course meters world record of 48.16, it doesn’t seem completely out of the realm of possibility (especially considering his PB was 48.79 when he set the current NCAA Record), and if Modglin continues his trajectory, he can’t be discounted either.

The Wildcard

Luca Urlando (Photo Credit: Jack Spitser)

Fans have waited years to see Georgia redshirt junior Luca Urlando on the psych sheet for this event, and after years of injury and other event priorities, it’s finally happening.

Urlando has never swum the 100 back individually, yet he held the NCAA Record for over three years until Kos broke it last season. At the 2022 Championships, he led off Georgia’s 400 medley relay and ripped a 43.35 to take down Ryan Murphy‘s long-standing record, having improved from 44.99 at the start of that season. The event has historically conflicted with the 100 fly, though the new CSCAA event order appears to have prompted him to swap the 200 IM for the 100 back this season.

For all his talent, Urlando’s career has been shaped just as much by adversity as by what he’s accomplished in the pool. After bursting onto the scene in 2019 by breaking Michael Phelps’ 17-18 National Age Group Record in the 200m butterfly, two shoulder dislocations derailed what looked like a meteoric trajectory, costing him significant training time and requiring surgeries in both early 2020 and late 2022. He returned to top form last season, dropping over a second and a half in the 200 fly to set the NCAA Record (1:37.17) at a dual meet, then lowering it further to 1:36.43 to win his first individual NCAA title.

Urlando’s three swims in the 100 back this year have come in at 44.79, 44.89, and 44.97, suggesting it hasn’t been a major focus heading into the meet, and whether that changes come race day makes him the toughest swimmer to project in this entire field. He could challenge for the win or miss the top eight entirely, and that uncertainty is what makes an already deep race even more interesting.

When Urlando set his previous NCAA record in the event, his season best heading into the meet was 44.38, meaning he dropped just over a second. That doesn’t mean the same will happen again, but it’s one of the only data points available given how rarely he swims the event.

If the improvements he’s made in the fly events carry over to the backstroke, he could be on his way to reclaiming all of the records in the event.

What About…

Jonny Marshall (Photo Credit: Jack Spitser)

Florida junior Jonny Marshall is another key name in the field, having finished runner-up a year ago when he too broke Murphy’s long-standing NCAA Record, touching just two hundredths behind Kos with a 43.22 that still ranks him as the second-fastest performer in history. He’s been nearly a full second off that mark so far this season; his 44.16 came leading off a relay at SECs, where he clocked a 44.57 to finish fourth individually after winning the event in both 2024 and 2025.

With the exception of last year’s 100 back, Marshall has historically swum his fastest times of the season at SECs, making it genuinely difficult to tell whether this is an off year or whether he’s simply keeping his cards close to his chest until the big show.

Marshall’s former Gator teammate Adam Chaney will be lined up behind the blocks in maroon and gold this year, and the move to Arizona State has been a positive one for his backstroke. At the Big 12 Championships last month, Chaney, who hadn’t raced at the NCAA Championships since 2024, broke 44 seconds in the 100 back for the second time in his career, slicing six hundredths off his best time to win the event in 43.93, the fourth-fastest time in the nation this season. He has historically been hit or miss in terms of matching his in-season times at NCAAs, though under a new coaching regime at ASU, past trends may not be the most reliable indicator of what’s to come.

What makes Chaney particularly interesting is the shift in his event focus. A pure sprinter throughout his career at Florida, swimming the 50 and 100 free alongside his bread-and-butter 100 back, he has dropped the 100 free in favor of the 200 back, where he enters as the sixth seed. The added emphasis on the more endurance-oriented side of backstroke raises an intriguing question about what that could mean for the final 100 back of his collegiate career.

Fifth-year Evan Petty has been on a tear for Cal this season, dropping from 44.97 to 44.21, with the culmination of that improvement earning him the ACC title. The Golden Bears have a rich history in the backstroke with names like Ryan Murphy, Jacob Pebley, Bryce Mefford, Daniel Carr, Destin Lasco, and Bjorn Seeliger preceding him, and they have a knack for getting swimmers into the ‘A’ final of this event.

Having only qualified for NCAAs for the first time a year ago and placing 22nd, Petty is now the top-seeded sprint backstroker on the team. It may take right around his current season best, if not a tenth or two faster, to crack the final, but given Cal’s track record of peaking at the right time, he seems well-positioned.

Ruard Van Renen (Photo Credit: Jack Spitser)

Georgia senior Ruard van Renen has broken 44 seconds three times in his career, most recently at the UGA Fall Invite in November when he clocked 43.92, the third-fastest time in the nation this season. He was faster twice last year, both at NCAAs, swimming 43.85 for bronze in the individual final and 43.86 leading off the Bulldogs’ 400 medley relay. He was subdued at last month’s SEC Championships, managing only 44.56 for bronze, though he didn’t even crack 45 at the 2025 SEC meet before unleashing his dual sub-44 swims at NCAAs. Given he’s already been under 44 in the fall, his conference showing is more likely by design rather than a cause for concern.

Army sophomore Johnny Crush finished eighth in this final a year ago, clocking a then-best time of 44.52, and has only continued to improve since. He blasted 44.10 at the Army Invite last month before posting a slower 44.80 to take the Patriot League title, and if he can get back toward his best time, a second consecutive final appearance is well within reach.

Army’s top performers as a whole looked largely unrested at Patriots, though the 44.10 just weeks prior complicates that theory somewhat. He threw down a personal best as a freshman to make the ‘A’ final, so peaking at the right time is nothing new for him.

SwimSwam Picks 

Dark Horses: NC State juniors Quintin McCarty (44.46) and Hudson Williams (44.49) enter seeded 10th and 11th, while sophomore Kaii Winkler (44.62) comes in 15th. The Wolfpack have a rich history of developing backstrokers, most recently with the likes of Katharine Berkoff, Kacper Stokowski, and Coleman Stewart, and Williams and Winkler began the season without ever having broken 45 seconds, with McCarty’s previous best sitting at 44.59. Assuming they continue their momentum, it would be hard not to see at least one making the ‘A’ final, though the question is which of the three has the biggest drop left in them. Winkler is the wildcard of the three; he tends to focus on the shorter freestyles and 100 fly, and the 100 back is a new event for him this season, having only raced it three times, two of which came at ACCs.