A Look at the International Flavor of the Past Three NCAA Championships (Men’s Edition)
The first set of midseason invitationals wrapped up over the weekend, with several stellar performances highlighting competition across the United States. At the Texas Invitational, the Longhorns’ Will Modglin logged an American record in the 100-yard backstroke, going 43.26, while Georgia’s Luca Urlando lowered his NCAA and American marks in the 200 butterfly.
Additionally, Canadians Josh Liendo (Florida) and Ilya Kharun (Arizona State) put together a number of eye-opening performances in their prime events, with Brazil’s Gui Caribe (Tennessee) looking sharp in the sprint-freestyle disciplines. The collection of fast outings not only generates greater excitement for the NCAA Championships in March, but offers a look at the international diversity on display within the collegiate scene.
With most programs featuring international athletes on their collegiate rosters, Swimming World gathered statistics from the last three editions of the NCAA Championships. Specifically, we looked at the home nations of top-three finishers and found that no fewer than 10 countries have produced a gold, silver or bronze medalist at the biggest meet of the college season.
Of the 39 top-three slots available at the NCAA Champs, the United States claimed just under half of those places at the 2025 meet, and just more than half in 2023 and 2024.
Here is a breakdown of the homelands of the top-three male finishers in individual events between the 2023-2025 NCAA Champs:
2025
USA – 18
Canada – 6
Hungary – 4
Belgium – 3
Cayman Islands – 2
Brazil – 2
Kyrgyzstan – 1
South Africa – 1
Spain – 1
Great Britain – 1
2024
USA-22
Canada-4
Hungary-3
France-3
Cayman Islands-1
Brazil-1
Israel-1
Australia-1
Poland-1
Spain-1
Kyrgyzstan-1
2023
USA-21
Canada-3
France-3
Spain-3
Sweden-2
Cayman Islands-1
Kyrgyzstan-1
Israel-1
Egypt-1
Poland-1
Hungary-1
Netherlands-1