Pan Pacific Championships Night One Finals: Luca Urlando Takes Down Michael Phelps’ Meet Record inMen’s 200 Butterfly
The U.S. men led the 200 butterfly field into the finals at the 2026 Pan Pacific Championships.
Luca Urlando and Carson Foster were the top two seeds in the finals with Michael Phelps‘ meet record in their sights.
It was the top time of the year for both swimmers, who shared Swimming World’s High School Swimmers of the Year honors in 2019.
With Phelps in the stands, Urlando and Foster were 1-2 at the 100 mark. On the final stretch Urlando pulled ahead of Foster and got to the wall in in 1:53.11 to break Phelps’ meet record in the event.
Phelps went 1:53.80 in 2006 in Victoria, Canada. It was his last Pan Pacific record as an individual.
“That’s the dream right there. …That’s great. It can’t get much better than that,” Urlando said. “It was a fun race. Like to see what the splits were first, but I thought I held my stroke together on that last 50. I wanted to win that race. But I think more than anything was swimming by race and just really honing in on my details to make me successful.
Foster finished second in 1:53.47, ahead of Australia’s Harrison Turner (1:54.44).
“This morning felt pretty rough, so it wasn’t the most confident swim this morning. But that’s one of the things that Bob’s been working on me with, is don’t read into how it feels. We’ve trained for it. We’re ready for it. So just do my own race tonight. It’s going to feel better in front of my home crowd, and so I’m happy with it,” Foster said. “Ties my best 200 fly and I tied my best 400 IM – I have a knack for tying my best time. You can’t complain about it. Once you get to the level we’re at, to go a time that’s one of the best in the world, I’m not going to beat myself up over a 1/100th or anything like that. I’m right where I was when I was my best self, so I’m pumped about it.”
Urlando, the reigning world champion, was fresh off of winning the U.S. National Championship in the 200 fly on July 28, at the same Wollett Aquatic Center in Irvine, California.
Urlando won at nationals with a swim of 1:54.45, holding off Ilya Kharun (1:54.59) with out a shave and a full taper.
