Curtiss Becomes 3rd American 17-18-Year-Old Under 22-Second Barrier In 50 Free

7TH FINA WORLD JUNIOR SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS 2019

• 50-Meter Course
• Duna Arena, Budapest (Hungary)
• Pool swimming: Tuesday, August 20 – Sunday, August 25, 2019
• Heats 9:30am GMT+2 (3:30 am EDT / 12:30 am PDT)/ Semifinals and Finals 5:30pm GMT+2 (11:30am EDT / 8:30am PDT)
• Meet site
• Entries book
• FinaTV Live Stream (subscription required)
• Live results

17-year-old David Curtiss of the United States busted out the swim of his life tonight in Budapest, producing the first sub-22 second 50m freestyle of his young career. Entering these World Junior Championships, the Hamilton Y Aquatics star held a personal best of 22.25 in this sprint event, a time he put up just weeks ago at the U.S. Summer Nationals.

This morning in the heats here at Duna Arena, Curtiss claimed the top seed in a new PB of 22.16, inching closer to the 22-second barrier. The next closest prelims swimmer was Ukraine’s Vladyslav Bukhov, who hit the wall in 22.29.

With designs on a run at the gold, however, Curtiss blasted a semi time of 21.95 to land lane 4 and join the 21-club, becoming just the 3rd American aged 17-18 to do so. Curtiss’ time ranks #3 behind Olympian and World Champion Caeleb Dressel‘s National Age Group Record for 17-18 of 21.53 at the 2015 U.S. Nationals. Michael Andrew ranks #2 in this age group with his mark of 21.75 that won gold at this same meet 2 years ago.

Also of note is the fact that Curtiss has now raced his way onto the USA National Team with his 21.95 evening swim. His time bumps Robert Howard and Bowe Becker off the list, as the pair were tied in the 6th slot with a time of 22.00.

Curtiss still has the final yet to go to drop potentially even more time and take a spot on the 50m free podium.

Video courtesy of James Foster: