SwimSwam Pulse: Urlando, Hobson Have Best Shot At Individual Gold For U.S. Men (Minus Finke)

SwimSwam Pulse is a recurring feature tracking and analyzing the results of our periodic A3 Performance Polls. You can cast your vote in our newest poll on the SwimSwam homepage, about halfway down the page on the right side.

Our most recent poll asked SwimSwam readers which male swimmer has the best chance of winning individual gold in Singapore, not including reigning Olympic champion Bobby Finke:

Question: Besides Bobby Finke, which U.S. man has the best chance of winning a world title in 2025?

RESULTS

• Luca Urlando – 28.7%
• Luke Hobson – 27.8%
• Shaine Casas – 22.8%
• Carson Foster – 4.1%
• Caeleb Dressel – 4.0%
• Jack Alexy – 2.6%
• Michael Andrew – 2.2%
• Ryan Murphy – 1.9%
• Nic Fink – 1.8%
• Other – 1.6%
• Thomas Heilman – 1.2%
• Chris Guiliano – 1.2%
• Dare Rose – 0.3%

It took until the final night of swimming at the Paris Olympics for the American men to win an individual gold medal, as Bobby Finke came through in the clutch with a world record performance in the final of the men’s 1500 freestyle, successfully defending his Olympic title in 14:30.67.

Heading into the 2025 World Championships, there’s no question that Finke has the best chance of standing atop the podium for the U.S. men, as he aims to regain the 800 free world title he won in 2022, while in the 1500, it’s hard to believe he’s never won the world title (despite two Olympic gold medals), but he’s the clear favorite there after what he did in Paris.

Beyond Finke, there were only four other American men to win an individual medal at last summer’s Games, and at least one and maybe two of them won’t be racing this summer.

Ryan Murphy, who won bronze in the 100 back in Paris, has announced he’s taking the summer off from competition, while Nic Fink, who tied for silver in the 100 breast, hasn’t raced since the Games and his status is unclear with U.S. Nationals fast approaching.

That leaves 200 free bronze medalist Luke Hobson and 400 IM bronze medalist Carson Foster as the two returning medalists from Paris for the American men this summer, not including Finke, who also won silver in the 800 free to go along with his title in the 1500.

In our latest poll, we asked SwimSwam readers who they believe has the best chance of winning individual gold in Singapore for the American men outside of Finke, and Hobson was right at the top of the list alongside Luca Urlando.

Note that the poll was published prior to Murphy’s announcement that he was not racing this summer, so he picked up a handful of votes.

Urlando ended up leading the poll with 28.7% of votes, which is a testament to what he’s done over the last eight months after he missed the Olympic semi-finals in the 200 fly in a time of 1:56.18.

Urlando had a phenomenal college season, breaking the American, NCAA and U.S. Record in the 200 fly (SCY) multiple times, including blasting a time of 1:36.43 in the NCAA final to become the fastest swimmer in history by nearly a full second, and followed that up by setting a massive new best time of 1:52.37 in the long course pool a few days later.

The 200 fly at the World Championships feels more wide open than it has in past years. Leon Marchand won Olympic gold last summer, and though he was impressive in the 400 IM (4:07.11) last weekend, he hasn’t raced the 200 fly in LCM yet this season.

Kristof Milak, the two-time world champion and world record holder in the 200 fly, has had questions surrounding his commitment to training dating back to early last year, though he mustered a 1:51.75 swim in Paris to win silver behind Marchand.

After Urlando’s 1:52.37 swim in early April, there’s no denying he has a chance to snag the world title this summer—anything under 1:52 might get the job done.

Close behind Urlando in the poll with 27.8% of votes was Hobson, who, since winning bronze in the 200 free in Paris, has rewritten the short course record books in the event, first breaking and then re-breaking the super-suited world record in the SCM 200 free (1:38.61) in December before downing his own SCY all-time mark (1:28.33) in March.

In long course, Hobson set a best time of 1:44.79 in the Olympic final to claim bronze, just seven one-hundredths shy of David Popovici‘s gold medal-winning time of 1:44.72.

In 2024, Popovici was the only swimmer to go under the 1:44 barrier, clocking 1:43.13 at the European Championships in Belgrade, and sub-1:44 feels like something Hobson is capable of after the progression he’s made over the short course season.

Outside of Popovici’s dominant world title win in 2022 (1:43.21), it’s taken 1:44-something to win gold at the World Championships every year since 2015, and the door is open for Hobson, with Popovici presenting his biggest hurdle.

Also earning a good chunk of votes was Shaine Casas, who picked up 22.8%.

Unlike Urlando and Hobson, Casas doesn’t have one event where he’s a clear-cut gold medal contender, but he could pull out a victory in a number of different races due to his versatility.

Casas won the short course world title in the 200 IM in December and ranks 4th in the world this season in long course (1:56.52), while he’s been 24.23 in the 50 back, 53.54 in the 100 back, and 50.82 in the 100 fly, putting him in the mix in all those events (and maybe even the 50 fly). He’s also impressed of late in the 100 and 200 free, which puts him in relay contention this summer.

The rest of the swimmers included in the poll picked up significantly fewer votes than the top three, with Foster and Caeleb Dressel ranking 3rd and 4th with 4% of votes. Foster would probably need something unforeseen to happen to Marchand to win one of the IMs, while Dressel hasn’t raced a 100-meter event yet this year but if he’s gunning for the 50 free and 50 fly, he can’t be counted out given his skillset.

Jack Alexy (100 free) and Michael Andrew (likely 50 breast) were next up with just over 2% of votes.

Below, vote in our new A3 Performance Poll, which asks: Who is the frontrunner this summer in the men’s medley relay?

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ABOUT A3 PERFORMANCE

The A3 Performance Poll is courtesy of A3 Performance, a SwimSwam partner.