Curtis Sets 50m Backstroke World Record at 26.63

At the Olympic Aquatic Centre in Saint-Denis, Sara Curtis turned a semi-final into a landmark. The Italian touched in 26.63, stripping 0.23 seconds from Kaylee McKeown's world record in the women's 50m backstroke.

A record taken by two tenths

Curtis attacked the single length from the gun in the second semi-final. McKeown's mark of 26.86 had stood since October 2023, but the 19-year-old carved it away with a controlled, explosive swim. Alina Gaifutdinova finished second in 26.91, the third-fastest time in history, yet the night belonged to Italy.

Nineteen, and first in history

The swim made Curtis the first Black swimmer ever to hold an individual long-course world record. The moment arrived weeks after she lowered her personal best to 27.07 at the Sette Colli meet in Rome. Entering the championships as top seed, she turned a European record into a global one inside a single summer.

"I knew I was capable of doing it but I didn't expect it here, in this race, in this moment," she told European Aquatics afterwards. The record was the first of the 2026 championships, and it left the University of Virginia sophomore visibly shaken on the pool deck.

Curtis later returned for the 4x100m freestyle relay, splitting 52.29 to help Italy to a national record and silver medal. It added to the 100m freestyle bronze she had claimed the night before. The 50m backstroke final still lay ahead, but the semi-final had already rewritten the record books.

A teenage dream, realized under the lights of Paris, in a race that shifted the sport.