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)
- SwimSwam Preview Index
- Psych Sheets
- Preview Index
- Live Stream
- Live Results
- Live Recaps
Men’s 100 Backstroke – PrelimsÂ
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
- 2025 8th/16th Prelims Places: 44.52/45.22
Top 8:
- Hubert Kos (TEX) – 43.08 ***NEW NCAA, CHAMPIONSHIPS, US OPEN RECORD***
- Ruard Van Renen (UGA) – 43.41
- Owen McDonald (IU) – 43.98
- Marcus Reyes-Gentry (ND) – 44.07
- Will Modglin (TEX) – 44.08
- Adam Chaney (ASU) – 44.25
- Johnny Crush (ARMY) – 44.32
- Aiden Hayes (NCSU) – 44.45
Hubert Kos broke his own NCAA record in the 100 backstroke, swimming a 43.08 in prelims on Friday morning. That broke his record of a 43.20 that he swam a year ago at the 2025 NCAA Championships. This morning’s swim also broke his own meet and US Open records.
Split Comparison
| 2026 NCAAs- Prelims | 2025 NCAAs | |
| 50 | 20.71 | 20.99 |
| 100 | 22.37 | 22.21 |
| 43.08 | 43.2 |
Kos was out faster today on the first 50 and came home a bit slower but was able to get under his record. He is the top seed heading into finals tonight and will have a chance to lower his record.
All-Time Top Performances- Men’s 100 Back
- Hubert Kos, 43.08, 2026 NCAA Division I Men’s Championships- Prelims
- Hubert Kos, 43.20, 2025 NCAA Division I Men’s Championships
- Jonny Marshall, 43.22, 2025 NCAA Division I Men’s Championships
- Will Modglin, 43.26, Texas Invitational
- Luca Urlando, 43.35, 2022 NCAA Division I Men’s Championships
- Will Modglin, 43.37, Texas Invitational
- Ruard Van Renen, 43.41, 2026 NCAA Division I Men’s Championships- Prelims
- Ryan Murphy, 43.49, 2016 NCAA DI – Men
- Ryan Murphy, 43.51, 2016 NCAA DI – Men
Kos is also the NCAA record holder in the 200 backstroke with a 1:34.21. He is the top seed for that event tomorrow. Kos was 2nd in last night’s 100 fly final with a 42.54, a time that made him the #2 performer all-time just behind Josh Liendo‘s 42.49 that Liendo swam for the win.
my progression on swimcloud is SOO cooked
love how Rowdy said “we prob aint gonna see a ton of records at this meet”
I don’t know why the focus of his commentary is around predicting outcomes.
and then he goes back on what he says half the time
Hubi Leon hubi Leon 4 medley relay
43.08-48.73-42.54(flat)-40.28(flat) = 2:54.63
Incoming 42.7 calling now
This guy is gonna cook that Peirsol world record
Peirsol was a 1:39 SCY backstroker. I think that was during his Freshman year so it’s likely he would have gotten faster if he kept swimming collegiately, but Kos is a 1:34 backstroker.
SCY and LCM are very different and Kos still has over 1 second to go before he challenges 1:51.
One interesting thing is that even though Peirsol’s record was from the super suit ear, he did not use the extreme suits and he used the style that was hips to ankles, not the full body style.
Try but have to imagine the X-glide leggings alleviated a lot of the work to keep your legs from sinking. Peirsol also didnt’ have utilize underwaters much, Lochte was the first guy to really do it in LCM backstroke
I remember that race – Lochte was actually winning through 130m or so. Lochte was wearing a full body, Peirsol was just in legs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BZVe743qPE
What a huge difference in Rowdy’s commentary – more observant, excited where appropriate but not screaming and drooling. I watched some London 2012 footage recently and thought he sounded fine on it as well.
Watched the video provided by Eric Angle below and it looked like all of the Top 3 wore the hip to ankle suits (Peirsol, Irie, Lochte).
I agree that there’s still a decent gap (1.27 seconds) between Peirsol’s WR and Kos’ PR. A 1:52 this summer would obviously be a good step. That said, I do think he’s capable of breaking it some day.
Sub 43 tonight? 👀
I’d bet all my belongings on it
Will be interesting to see after the meet concludes what a Hubert/Hubert/Nate/Hubert 400 medley relay would have looked like for Texas.
Hubert doing breaststroke and Nate doing Fly?
Lol yeah I messed that up.
Hail University of Texas
Hail the Longhorns