Italian teenager Curtis breaks 50m backstroke world record at Europeans / Photo: JULIEN DE ROSA - AFP
Italian teenager Curtis breaks 50m backstroke world record at Europeans
Italian teenager Sara Curtis broke the women's 50m backstroke world record at the European championships with a blistering swim in Paris on Wednesday.
The 19-year-old clocked 26.63sec in winning her semi-final, bettering the previous mark set by Australia's Kaylee McKeown three years ago by 0.23sec.
Curtis took bronze in the women's 100m freestyle on Tuesday, but will now be a strong favourite in Thursday's 50m back final.
She adds the world record to the short-course European record she set in the event in Poland last year.
A year after giving birth to her first child, Sweden's Sarah Sjostrom was crowned European champion in the 50m butterfly for the sixth time.
The three-time Olympic champion, who has held the world record in the event since 2014, won the final with a time of 25.05 seconds in Paris.
She secured her 18th European title and now boasts a total of 99 international medals since making her debut at the age of 14 at the European championships in Rome.
In the final, the 32-year-old finished ahead of Belgium's Roos Vanotterdijk in 25.12 and fellow Swede Sara Junevik who clocked 25.51.
Romanian star David Popovici secured his third consecutive European 100m freestyle title with a championship record of 46.56.
Russian Egor Kornev, who won 50m butterfly gold on Tuesday, had to settle for silver, with Hungary's Kristof Milak third.
Popovici, 21, took Olympic bronze in the 100m free two years ago in Paris and won gold in the 200m.
Hungary's Hubert Kos won the European men's 200m backstroke gold to add to his Olympic and world titles in the event.
The 23-year-old from Budapest, who achieved a new European record over the distance in Tuesday's semi-finals, clocked 1min 53.08sec to take gold.
Kos won the Olympic title in Paris two years ago and the world title in 2023 and 2025, but had never won the continental trophy.
Greece's Apostolos Siskos took silver in 1min 53.81sec and Italian Thomas Ceccon bronze with 1:53.96.
Britain's Angharad Evans claimed her first European title in the women's 100m breaststroke with a championship record time of 1:04.87, continuing her good form after she won two golds at the recent Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
H.Bastin--RTC
