Sara Curtis, the Italian sprinter who moved to the University of Virginia this season, claimed her first solo international senior crown to get the last session of the European short-course Championships off to a sizzling, European-record start in Lublin, Poland this evening.

In a race featuring four swimmers with a clear shot at gold, Curtis banished doubt with a dominant dash to victory in the 50m backstroke. The Italian's 25.49 set a continental and championship record and lifted her to 7th on the all-time rankings.

The new Euro mark took Curtis inside the respective standards set by Dutch sprinters Kira Toussaint in 2020, on 25.60, and Marrit Steenbergen, who clocked 25.64 in heats and left it there, with an eye on a sixth gold in six days of racing in the curtain-closing women's 4x50m medley relay with teammates.

Curtis would have won it with her heats time: she clocked a career best of 25.97 in heats, a year after a 26.03 World Junior record in her semi-final at World s/c Championships in Budapest.

In the final, the Italian now a part of coach Todd De Sorbo's set up at UVA, she was a class apart. The silver went to France's Analia Pigree in 25.96, 0.01sec ahead of Dutch challenger Maaike De Waard, who grabbed bronze 0.06sec ahead of Britain's Lauren Cox.

At the end of the season, this happened:

Marrit Steenbergen's lead-off backstroke split n the 4x50m medley for The Netherlands - 24.47 - would have won the dash at the start of the session: it broke the European record that had stood to Sara Curtis for two hours and four minutes, while victory for the Dutch took Steenbergen's tally to six golds and eight podiums in six days as Queen of Lublin

More action in these two other day 6 reports:

Walshe & Ponti Fly To Gold As Medley Relay Makes Steenbergen Queen Of Lublin With 6 Golds & 8 Medals

A lead-off backstroke split of 24.47 by Marrit Steenbergen in the women’s 4x50 medley would have won the dash at the start of the session and broke the European record that had stood to Sara Curtis for two hours and four minutes

State Of Swimming +Craig Lord

Quadarella, Razetti & Relay Make It A 5-Golds Bull Run For Italy On Last day In Lublin

Italy top the medals with 11 golds at the European short-course championships after adding five more titles in the curtain-closer, courtesy of Sara Curtis, Simone Cerasuolo, Simona Quadarella, Alberto Razzetti and a men’s 4x50 medley quartet including Cerasuolo

State Of Swimming +Craig Lord

Curtis was back in the fray for joint silver in the 50m free just under half an hour later. Katarzyna Wasick wowed the home Polish crowd for gold in 23.20, just 0.08sec shy of Sarah Sjöström's 2021 championship record.

She was followed by two snaps: Curtis and France's Beryl Gastaldello stopped the clock at 23.41, leaving Silvia Di Pietro, the second Italian in the fight, and Valerie Van Roon, the first Dutch contender home, joint fourth on 23.70.

Jefimova Confines Meilutyte To Rare Silver By Taking Her Championship Record

The second meet mark of the evening fell to Estonia's Eneli Jefimova in 28.81 in the 50m breaststroke, 0.05sec inside Ruta Meilutyte's 2023 championship record and 0.41sec ahead of her closest rival and a Lithuanian breaststroke pioneer who was 15 and based in Britain when she claimed Olympic gold in the 100 at London 2012. Bronze went to Belgium's Florine Gaspard in 29.34:

Hribar's Gold Ahead Of Grousset and a snap with a World Junior mark for Ukraine's Sheremet

Jere Hribar, of Croatia, took the 50m free title in 20.70, 0.11sec ahead of a snap for silver, the only difference on the clock between France's Maxime Grousset and Ukraine's Nikita Sheremet was their age: for Sherement, 20.81 meant a second World Junior record this week, 0.03sec inside the time he clocked leading off his nation's 4x50 relay on day 1.

In other finals, the men's 50m backstroke crown went o Estonia's Ralf Tribuntsov, while Italy's Simone Cerasuolo claimed gold in the men's 50m breaststroke:

More action from the last day in Lublin soon...