ROME – Virginia women's swimming rising sophomore Sara Curtis set a European record on the opening night of the Sette Colli Trophy, a three-day international meet being held June 26-28 in Rome, Italy.
Curtis set an Italian national record in the prelims of the 50m Backstroke, posting a time of 27.23. In the finals session, she broke both her newly minted national record and the European record by going 27.07. She moves up to the fifth fastest performer ever in the event.
Virginia alumna Gretchen Walsh set an American record in the 50m Butterfly, going 24.51 in the final of the event. The time is 0.15 seconds faster than her previous mark set last year and is the second-fastest performance of all time.
Alumna Alex Walsh made the A Final of the 200 Free, placing fourth with a time of 1:58.39.
The elite international meet features more than 700 athletes from 36 nations competing, including multiple Olympic medalists and world and European champions. Curtis is one of the 32 athletes from the Italian National Team.
Current Cavalliers Lana Pudar and Nina Jazy are also competing at the meet.
Prelims are at 3 a.m. ET each day with the finals session starting at 12:30 p.m. for the long course meters competition.
Prelims will stream live on the Italian Swimming Federation's YouTube Channel. Live results will be available through Microplus timing. You can find the link to both above.