2026 Sette Colli Trophy: Day 3 Finals Live Recap

Sara Curtis Lowers Own Italian Record in Women’s 50 Free

Italian star Sara Curtis capped another major performance in Rome, breaking her own national record in the 50 free with a 24.09 to climb the world rankings.

2026 Sette Colli Trophy: Day 3 Finals Live Recap

Olympic champion David Popovici nabbed a season-best en route to the 100m free title but the Romanian will strive to add the 200m free gold to his haul.

Gretchen Walsh Breaks Kate Douglass’ Week-Old 50 Free World Record With 23.55

Walsh breaks the record set just nine days ago by Virginia training partner Kate Douglass. Before last week, the two shared the American Record.

Sara Curtis Ancora Record: Al Settecolli Firma Il Primato Italiano Nei 50 Stile Libero

Nella finale dei 50 stile libero al Trofeo Settecolli, Sara Curtis ha conquistato il terzo posto in 24.09, firmando il nuovo record italiano.

Gabriel Brown Downs 9-Year-Old 10&Under SCY NAG Record in 200 Free in 1:56.12

After months of knocking on the door, Gabriel Brown finally broke through, setting a new boys’ 10&under NAG Record of 1:56.12 in the 200 freestyle.

Campabadal Scorches 200 Free PB To Conclude Spanish Open Trials

Catch up on all the action that transpired on the fourth and final day of the 2026 Spanish Open Trials, featuring Ainhoa Campabadal.

2026 French Elite Championships: Day 2 Finals Live Recap

David Aubry will look to add his name to the French European Championships team in the 800 free tonight, his first event of the meet

18-Yr-Old Luca Hoek Rips 1:46.10 PB, Spanish Record In Men’s 200 Freestyle

18-year-old Luca Hoek continued his record-breaking siege, posting a new lifetime best of 1:46.10 in the 200m free at the Spanish Open Trials.

by Retta Race 65

June 28th, 2026 Asia, Brazil, Latin America & Caribbean, Europe, International, News, Previews & Recaps

67th SETTE COLLI TROPHY

Friday, June 26th – Sunday, June 28th
Prelims at 9am local (3am ET)/A-Finals at 7pm local (1pm ET)
Foro Italico, Rome, Italy
SwimSwam Preview
Entry List
Prelims Recaps: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3
Finals Recaps: Day 1 | Day 2
Live Results
Prelims Livestream
Finals Livestream

The third and final day of action at the 2026 Sette Colli Trophy is upon us, and the stacked pools of talent on both the men’s and women’s sides have the potential to bring about even more head-turning results and record-breaking swims.

American Gretchen Walsh will try to fend off the likes of Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom and the host country’s Sara Curtis in the women’s 50m freestyle to kick things off. This morning, 23-year-old Walsh turned in a time of 24.10 to establish the 4th-best time of her career.

And, new mom Sjostrom is hoping to continue her speedy ways after finishing behind Walsh in the 50m fly earlier in the competition, remarkably less than a year since giving birth to her first child, son Adrian.

Curtis is on the warpath, however, having notched a monster new personal best and Italian national record of 52.69 as she claimed 100m free bronze.

The men’s and women’s 200m backstroke races are on the agenda, which means we’ll see Swiss Olympic medalist Roman Mityukov lead the men and Hungarian Dora Molnar enter lane four for the women’s edition.

Noe Ponti has already put on displays of speed at this competition, but the 25-year-old Swiss Olympic medalist will have his hands full in the 50m fly.

He already put up a significant swim of 22.81 as the sole time of the prelims under 23 seconds; however, Hungary’s Kristof Milak and rising ace Stergios-Marios Bilas of Greece won’t go down quietly.

The men’s 200m free has a heavy plate of talent about to take to the Foro Italico pool, with Olympic multi-medalist David Popovici primed to follow up his 100m free victory from earlier in the meet.

He notched 1:47.66 this morning to hold a slight advantage over British Olympic medlaist Jack McMillan (1:47.75), with Lithuanian Tomas Lukminus (1:47.81) also on the prowl, hoping to give his nation its first medal here.

Throw in the men’s and women’s 200m breaststroke events, 200m IM races, along with the women’s 400m free and men’s 1500m free and we’re sure to see some fireworks to bring this three-day affair to an explosive conclusion.

WOMEN’S 50 FREE – FINAL

~~World Record – 23.59, Kate Douglass (USA), 2026~~
World Junior Record – 24.17, Claire Curzan (USA), 2021
European Record – 23.61, Sarah Sjostrom (SWE), 2023
European Junior Record – 24.56, Sara Curtis (ITA), 2024
~~Italian Record – 24.29, Sara Curtis, 2026~~
~~Meet Record – 23.75, Sarah Sjostrom (SWE), 2024~~

GOLD – Gretchen Walsh (USA), 23.55 *World Record*
SILVER – Sarah Sjostrom (SWE), 23.86
BRONZE – Sara Curtis (ITA), 24.09 *Italian Record*

We could not have asked for more from this women’s 50m freestyle final, as 23-year-old Gretchen Walsh of the United States made collective jaws drop with a monster time of 23.55 to establish a new World Record.

After hitting 24.10 this morning in the prelims to notch the 4th-fastest time of her career, the Olympian entered an entirely other gear to clear the 24-second threshold for just the 3rd time ever.

In doing so, she erased the short-lived World Record of 23.59 that American Olympic teammate Kate Douglass established just last week at the Pro Swim Series.

European Record holder and new mom Sarah Sjostrom of Sweden was impressive as well, posting 23.86 as a humongous return to this event since giving birth to her first child, son Adrian, last August.

Then, coming in with the bronze, was 19-year-old Sara Curtis, who unleashed an eye-popping new personal best and Italian national record of 24.09 en route to bronze. That easily overtook the 24.29 she put on the books earlier this year.

Walsh’s new WR obviously situates her as #1 in the world right now, relegating Douglass to the #2 spot. Sjostrom now ranks 3rd in the world on the season, with Curtis ranked 6th overall.

MEN’S 200 BACK – FINAL

World Record – 1:51.92, Aaron Peirsol (USA), 2009
World Junior Record – 1:55.14, Kliment Kolesnikov (RUS), 2017
European Record – 1:53.19, Hubert Kos (HUN), 2025
European Junior Record – 1:55.14, Kliment Kolesnikov (RUS), 2017
Italian Record – 1:55.71, Thomas Ceccon, 2025
Meet Record – 1:55.05, Ryosuke Irie (JPN), 2012

GOLD – Roman Mityukov (SUI), 1:57.32
SILVER – John Shortt (IRL), 1:57.73
BRONZE – Benedek Kovacs (HUN), 1:57.76

The women’s 50m free final was a tough act to follow for this men’s 200m back main event, with just six of the eight finalists clearing the 2:00 barrier.

As expected, Swiss Olympic medalist Roman Mityukov carried the momentum from holding the top seed out of the morning, hitting the wall tonight in 1:57.32 for gold.

That was well off the 1:54.83 national record he logged at last year’s World Championships, but enough to grab the gold this evening.

Ireland’s national record holder and World Junior Championships multi-medalist John Shortt bumped himself up from 3rd seed to earn the silver, registering 1:57.73 to knock about two secons off his morning swim of 1:59.68.

Hungary’s Benedek Kovacs also landed on the podium with his mark of 1:57.76, good enough to capture the bronze.

Of note, the Sette Colli Trophy record remains at the 1:55.05 Japanese Olympic icon registered in 2012 for one of the oldest meet records still remaining.

WOMEN’S 200 BACK – FINAL

World Record – 2:03.14, Kaylee McKeown (AUS), 2023
World Junior Record – 2:03.35, Regan Smith (USA), 2019
European Record – 2:04.94m Anastasia Fesikova (RUS), 2009
European Junior Record – 2:06.62, Benchmark
Italian Record – 2:05.56, Margherita Panziera, 2021
Meet Record – 2:06.87, Margherita Panziera (ITA), 2019

GOLD – Aurora Velati (ITA), 2:12.57
SILVER – Anna Conti (ITA), 2:13.30
BRONZE – Dora Molnar (HUN), 2:13.67

Despite entering this women’s 200m backstroke as the top-seeded swimmer with a morning result of 2:12.88, 19-year-old Dora Molnar saw herself get passed by a pair of Italians to ultimately be relegated to the bronze medal position.

It was Aurora Velati who got to the wall first, posting 2:12.57 for the gold, leading teammate Anna Conti who notched 2:13.30 for the silver.

Molnar of the NCAA’s University of Southern California still landed on the podium, but settled for bronze in 2:13.67.

Velati made the most of tonight’s final, with her 2:12.57 demolishing her previous career-swiftest performance of 2:13.26 from just this past April,

MEN’S 50 FLY – FINAL

World Record – 22.27, Andrii Govorov (UKR), 2018
World Junior Record – 22.96, Diogo Ribeiro (POR), 2022
European Record – 22.27, Andrii Govorov (UKR), 2018
European Junior Record – 22.96, Diogo Ribeiro (POR), 2022
Italian Record – 22.67, Thomas Ceccon, 2025
Meet Record – 22.27, Andrii Govorov (UKR), 2018

GOLD – Noe Ponti (SUI), 22.73
SILVER – Kristof Milak (HUN), 22.86
BRONZE – Stergios-Marias Bilas (GRE), 23.08

The top three men from this morning’s 50m butterfly heats maintained their positions, with Swiss Olympic medlist Noe Ponti dropping his AM outing of 22.81 down to 22.73 to lead the field.

That checks in as the 4th-quickest outing of his storied career, one which boasts a PB and Swiss standard of 22.51 put on the books en route to snagging silver in this event at the 2025 World Championships.

Hungarian Olympic champion Kristof Milak demolished his 23.06 morning swim with a silver medal-worthy result of 22.86 to join Ponti as the only sub-23-second performers on the night.

That’s a big-time PB for the 200m fly World Record holder, crushing his former best-ever performance of 23.03 from April of this year. He also now becomes the Hungarian national record holder in this event, outperforming the 22.90 Szebasztian Szabo registered at the 2019 World Championships.

Greek swimmer Stergios-Marios Bilas bagged the bronze in 23.08, only .08 removed from the national record of 23.00 he put on the books at the 2025 World Championships.

WOMEN’S 200 FLY – FINAL

World Record – 2:01.81, Liu Zige (CHN), 2009
World Junior Record – 2:03.03, Summer McIntosh (CAN), 2024
European Record – 2:04.27, Katinka Hosszu (HUN), 2009
European Junior Record – 2:06.26, Lana Pudar (BIH), 2023
Italian Record – 2:06.50, Caterina Giacchetti, 2009
Meet Record – 2:07.05, Sara Isakovic (SLO), 2008

GOLD – Ellen Walshe (IRL), 2:08.02
SILVER – Helena Rosendahl Bach (DEN), 2:08.15
BRONZE – Paola Borrelli (ITA), 2:08.63

This women’s 200m fly final came down to the wire, with the top three competitors separated by just over half a second when all was said and done.

24-year-old Irish swimmer Ellen Walshe put her own national record on notice en route to getting to the wall first, producing a gold medal-worthy time of 2:08.02.

Walshe turned in the 6th place position at the 150m mark but turned on the jets to surpass Denmark’s Helena Rosendahl Bach who settled for silver just .13 behind in 2:08.15.

Italian top seed Paola Borrelli was relegated to bronze, hitting a still-solid outing of 2:08.63.

Walshe’s Irish national record remains at the 2:07.48 turned in at the 2025 World Championships, while Bach’s performance tonight was off her PB and Danish standard of 2:06.65 notched at the 2024 Olympic Games.

21-year-old Borrelli’s lifetime best checks in at the 2:07.47 put up just this past April at the Italian Championships to qualify her for this summer’s European Championships.