2026 NCAA Division I Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships
With just hours until the start of the 2026 Men’s NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships, we are going to take a look at what our Pick ‘Em players feel will be the tightest races of these championships and which events appear to have clear favorites to be named National Champions.
Biggest Favorites:
Rex Maurer – 500 Freestyle
Among the events with an overwhelming number of first-place votes for a single swimmer, Texas’ Rex Maurer dominated the 500 free, securing 92.6% of the first-place votes. Florida freshman Ahmed Jaouadi was next closest with 3.9% of the top votes, and Indiana Hoosier Zalan Sarkany was 3rd with 1.7%.
Hubert Kos, 200 Backstroke
Texas senior Hubert Kos was the runaway favorite to win the 200 backstroke, earning 92.6% of the votes, while Florida’s Jonny Marshall came in with the next most, but by a large margin, racking up only 6.6% of the first-place votes. Notre Dame’s Tommy Janton and Arizona State’s Adam Chaney each snagged one vote as well.
Ilya Kharun, 200 Butterfly
It is important to note that some people made their selections for these championships before the announcement that Luca Urlando was withdrawing from the NCAAs, citing a minor injury. But the numbers are heavily in favor of Ilya Kharun taking the 200 fly here, with 90.8% of the first-place votes. Urlando was 2nd with 7% but will not be competing. Virginia freshman Thomas Heilman comes in with the 3rd-most first-place votes, at 1.3%. Had the votes been changed since Urlando’s decision, Kharun may be the heaviest individual event favorite of all.
Nate Germonprez, 100 Breaststroke
Texas Junior Nate Germonprez enters these championships still seeking that first individual NCAA title, and our Pick ‘Em numbers suggest he may be on his way to one in the 100 breast, as he matches Kharun’s 200 fly total with 90.8% of the winning votes. Cal’s Yamato Okadome earned the 2nd-most votes with 4.4%, while Germonprez teammate Campbell McKean had the next-most with 3.9%.
Tightest Races:
200 Freestyle
Six different swimmers boast double-digit first-place votes; leading the way is Stanford’s Henry McFadden, with just under a third of the total winning votes at 30.7%. Behind him was NC State’s Kaii Winkler with just over a quarter of the first-place votes with 25.9%, while Tennessee’s Koby Bujak-Upton (13.6) and Texas’ Camden Taylor (11%) each crept over that 10% line.
400 IM
Similar to the 200 free, the 400 IM’s highest first-place vote getter received just under 35% of the total picks, as Texas’ Baylor Nelson (34.9%) enters this event with just over 6% more votes than his teammate Rex Maurer with 28.8%. Indiana’s Josh Bey, arguably the most on-fire 400 IMer in the field for these championships, saw 18.8% of voters predict he will carry this hot streak through to a national title. Cooper Lucas also earned 9.2% of the votes, showing the potential for big scoring for Texas in the 400 IM.
1650 Freestyle
Despite the lengthy nature of this event and some of the largest margins of victory possible, the 1650 free seems to be a split between Ahmed Jaouadi and Zalan Sarkany, with less than 9% of the votes separating Jaouadi’s 52% from Sarkany’s 42.2%, which is just 20 votes different. Ahmed Hafnaoui picked up 9 votes in his own right, bringing his total to 3.9%.
200 Breaststroke
Unlike Germonprez’s predicted dominance in the 100 breast, the 200 breast is a much tougher decision, as Germonprez still holds a little less than 10% advantage over Okadome, 53.1% to 43.9%, respectively. Michigan’s Luka Mladenovic was the only other swimmer to snag more than 1% of the votes with 1.3%.
