Sara Curtis Takes Down Italian 50 Free Record in Prelims; Goes Top of Rankings
Sara Curtis lowered her national 50 free record to 24.29 in prelims at the Italian Championships in Riccione to propel herself to the top of the 2026 world rankings.
The 19-year-old sliced 0.12 off her previous standard of 24.41 set in prelims at the 2025 World Championships in Singapore before she went on to miss out on the final by one place and 0.03.
With that one-length blast, Curtis dislodged Siobhan Haughey at the top of the rankings less than a week after the four-time Olympic medallist went 24.34 at the Swim Open Stockholm.
It’s the second Italian record of the meet for Curtis who posted 29.33 en-route to the 50 back title on the opening night and came the morning after she won the 100 free in 53.40.
She said through the Italian federation: “Very happy today. I knew that the 50 would come out well for me. Yesterday I was a bit disappointed, because I wanted to do the time in the 100 freestyle as well: but that’s fine.”
Curtis is coming off a superb freshman season at the University of Virginia, where she helped the Cavaliers to a sixth straight NCAA championship.