Sara Curtis

Sara Curtis
Personal information
National teamItaly Italy
Born (2006-08-19) 19 August 2006 (age 18)[2]
Italy
Sport
SportSwimming
StrokesFreestyle, backstroke
ClubTeam Dimensione Nuoto[1]
CoachThomas Maggiora[1]
Medal record
Women's swimming
Representing  Italy
Event 1st 2nd 3rd
World Junior Championships 0 3 1
European Junior Championships 1 0 2
Total 1 3 3
World Junior Championships
Silver medal – second place 2022 Lima 50 m freestyle
Silver medal – second place 2022 Lima 4×100 m medley
Silver medal – second place 2022 Lima 4×100 m mixed medley
Bronze medal – third place 2022 Lima 50 m backstroke
European Junior Championships
Gold medal – first place 2022 Otopeni 4×100 m freestyle
Gold medal – first place 2024 Vilnius 50 m freestyle
Gold medal – first place 2024 Vilnius 100 m freestyle
Gold medal – first place 2024 Vilnius 50 m backstroke
Gold medal – first place 2024 Vilnius 4×100 m freestyle
Gold medal – first place 2024 Vilnius Mixed 4×100 m freestyle
Silver medal – second place 2024 Vilnius Mixed 4×100 m medley
Bronze medal – third place 2022 Otopeni 50 m freestyle
Bronze medal – third place 2022 Otopeni 4×100 m medley

Sara Curtis (born 19 August 2006) is an Italian competitive swimmer specializing in sprint freestyle and backstroke events. At the 2022 World Junior Championships, she won silver medals in the 50-metre freestyle, 4×100-metre medley relay, and 4×100-metre mixed medley relay, a bronze medal in the 50-metre backstroke, and placed fourth in the 100-metre backstroke. At the 2022 European Junior Championships, she won a gold medal in the 4×100-metre freestyle relay and bronze medals in the 50-metre freestyle and the 4×100-metre medley relay.

Background

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Curtis trains under the guidance of coach Thomas Maggiora with Team Dimensione Nuoto.[1]

Career

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2022

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2022 European Junior Championships

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At the 2022 European Junior Swimming Championships, in July in Otopeni, Romania, Curtis won a gold medal as part of the 4×100-metre freestyle relay, splitting a 56.50 for the third leg of the relay to contribute to a final time of 3:42.98.[3][4] In the 50-metre freestyle, she won the bronze medal with a personal best time of 25.39 seconds, finishing 0.17 seconds behind gold medalist Nina Jazy of Germany and 0.05 seconds behind silver medalist Bianca Costea of Romania.[4][5] For her other events, she won a bronze medal as part of the 4×100-metre medley relay, swimming the backstroke portion of the relay in the final with a personal best time of 1:01.92, placed fifth in the final of the 50-metre backstroke with a personal best time of 28.79 seconds, placed sixth in the final of the 100-metre backstroke with a 1:02.00, and placed 20th in the 100-metre freestyle with a time of 57.57 seconds.[4]

Following her performances, Curtis competed at the 2022 Italian Junior National Championships in Ostia, winning the gold medal in the 50-metre freestyle with a Championships record of 25.40 seconds, gold medals in the 50-metre backstroke and 100-metre backstroke, and a silver medal in the 100-metre freestyle.[1]

2022 World Junior Championships

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2022 World Junior Championships
Silver medal – second place 4×100 m mixed medley 3:55.58
Silver medal – second place 50 m freestyle 25.53
Silver medal – second place 4×100 m medley 4:06.91
Bronze medal – third place 50 m backstroke 28.93

On the second day of the 2022 FINA World Junior Swimming Championships, 31 August in Lima, Peru, Curtis placed fourth in her first final of the Championships, the 100-metre backstroke, with a time of 1:02.10, which was 0.70 seconds behind gold medalist Dóra Molnár of Hungary and 0.44 seconds ahead of fifth-place finisher Aissia Prisecariu of Romania.[6][7] Later in the same session, she won her first medal of the Championships, a silver medal in the 4×100-metre mixed medley relay, contributing a 1:03.19 for the backstroke portion of the relay to the final time of 3:55.58.[7][8] Three days later, she won her first individual medal, a bronze medal in the 50-metre backstroke, finishing 0.42 seconds behind gold medalist Lora Komoróczy of Hungary with a time of 28.93 seconds.[7][9][10][11] The following day, she started the finals session with a silver medal in the 50-metre freestyle, finishing in a time of 25.53 seconds.[7][12][13] She concluded with a 1:03.14 backstroke leg of the 4×100-metre medley relay in the final, helping finish second and win the silver medal with a time of 4:06.91.[7][13][14] Her medals contributed to a record 20 total medals won by Italy at a single FINA World Junior Swimming Championships.[13]

2023

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In January 2023, Curtis achieved a pair of personal best times at the 23rd Luxembourg Euro Meet in Luxembourg, placing second in the final of the 50-metre freestyle with a time of 25.33 seconds, which was 0.15 seconds behind first-place finisher and fellow Italian Silvia Di Pietro, and fourth in the final of the 100-metre freestyle in 55.73 seconds.[15]

In April, on day two of the 2023 Italian National Championships in Riccione, Curtis ranked as the fastest junior in the final of the 50-metre backstroke, placing sixth with a personal best and 2023 European Junior Swimming Championships qualifying time of 28.70 seconds.[16] In the 100-metre freestyle final on day three, she achieved a personal best and European Junior Championships qualifying time of 55.12 seconds, which ranked as fifth across all ages and first amongst juniors (born 2005 or more recent) in the final.[17] In the preliminaries of the 50-metre freestyle on day four, she qualified for the final ranking first with a personal best and Italian junior record time of 25.23 seconds, which was 0.01 seconds faster than the former record of 25.24 seconds by Giorgia Biondani from 2013 and 0.10 seconds faster than her previous personal best time.[18] She improved the record and personal best time in the final, winning the senior national title with a 2023 World Junior Championships qualifying time of 25.14 seconds.[19] It marked her first senior national title and an Italian cadet category record.[20]

International championships (50 m)

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Meet 50 freestyle 100 freestyle 50 backstroke 100 backstroke 4×100 freestyle 4×100 medley 4×100 mixed medley
EJC 2022 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 20th 5th 6th 1st place, gold medalist(s) 3rd place, bronze medalist(s)
WJC 2022 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 4th 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 2nd place, silver medalist(s)

Personal best times

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Long course metres (50 m pool)

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Event Time Meet Location Date Age Ref
50 m freestyle 24.56 r 2024 Italian National Championships Riccione 8 March 2024 17 [19]
100 m freestyle 55.12 2023 Italian National Championships Riccione 15 April 2023 16 [17]
50 m backstroke 28.70 2023 Italian National Championships Riccione 14 April 2023 16 [16]
100 m backstroke 1:01.92 r 2022 European Junior Championships Otopeni, Romania 10 July 2022 15 [4]

Legend: r – relay 1st leg; h – preliminary heat

References

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  1. ^ a b c d Giaccone, Enrico (2 August 2022). "Tris d'oro per Sara Curtis ai nazionali" (in Italian). LaGuida.it. Retrieved 15 September 2022.
  2. ^ "Sara Curtis". FINA. Retrieved 15 September 2022.
  3. ^ Foglio, Alessandro (5 July 2022). "EuroJunior 2022 | D1: Italia subito oro nella 4×100 stile donne e bronzo nella uomini" (in Italian). corsia4.it. Retrieved 15 September 2022.
  4. ^ a b c d LEN (10 July 2022). "Romania 2022 LEN European Junior Swimming Championships: Complete Results Book". Microplus Informatica. Retrieved 15 September 2022.
  5. ^ Ion, Nicolae (7 July 2022). "Bianca Costea a adus României a patra medalie la CE de natație pentru juniori" (in Romanian). Adevărul. Retrieved 15 September 2022.
  6. ^ FINA (31 August 2022). "8th FINA World Junior Swimming Championships Lima (PER): Women's 100m Backstroke Final Results". Omega Timing. Retrieved 15 September 2022.
  7. ^ a b c d e "Una super Sara Curtis ai Mondiali juniores" (in Italian). lafedelta.it. 10 September 2022. Retrieved 15 September 2022.
  8. ^ FINA (31 August 2022). "8th FINA World Junior Swimming Championships Lima (PER): Mixed 4x100m Medley Relay Final Results". Omega Timing. Retrieved 15 September 2022.
  9. ^ FINA (3 September 2022). "8th FINA World Junior Swimming Championships Lima (PER): Women's 50m Backstroke Final Results". Omega Timing. Retrieved 15 September 2022.
  10. ^ OA Sport (3 September 2022). "Nuoto, Mondiali giovanili 2022: 4×100 sl donne d'argento e Sara Curtis bronzo nei 50 dorso" (in Italian). Eurosport. Retrieved 15 September 2022.
  11. ^ "Mondiali jrs. 4x100 d'argento, Curtis di bronzo" (in Italian). Italian Swimming Federation. 4 September 2022. Retrieved 15 September 2022.
  12. ^ FINA (4 September 2022). "8th FINA World Junior Swimming Championships Lima (PER): Women's 50m Freestyle Final Results". Omega Timing. Retrieved 15 September 2022.
  13. ^ a b c "L'Italia chiude con il record di venti medaglie" (in Italian). Italian Swimming Federation. 5 September 2022. Retrieved 15 September 2022.
  14. ^ FINA (4 September 2022). "8th FINA World Junior Swimming Championships Lima (PER): Women's 4x100m Medley Relay Results Final". Omega Timing. Retrieved 15 September 2022.
  15. ^ "Concluso l'Euro Meet di Lussemburgo. Day 3. Poggio, Carraro, D'Innocenzo, Di Pietro, Deplano sul podio" (in Italian). nuoto.com. 29 January 2023. Retrieved 29 January 2023.
  16. ^ a b "Campionato Italiano Assoluto UnipolSai - V. 50m 2023: Resultati 50 m Dorso - Donne Finale" (in Italian). Italian Swimming Federation. 14 April 2023. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
  17. ^ a b "Campionato Italiano Assoluto UnipolSai - V. 50m 2023: Resultati 100 m Stile Libero - Donne Finale" (in Italian). Italian Swimming Federation. 15 April 2023. Retrieved 16 April 2023.
  18. ^ "Campionato Italiano Assoluto UnipolSai - V. 50m 2023: Resultati 50 m Stile LIbero - Donne" (in Italian). Italian Swimming Federation. 16 April 2023. Retrieved 16 April 2023.
  19. ^ a b https://www.coni.it/it/news/22940-assoluti-di-riccione-vola-nelle-batterie-dei-50-stile-sara-curtis-presa-la-carta-olimpica.html (in Italian). coni.it 8 March 2024.
  20. ^ Scapol, Silvia (16 April 2023). "Sara Curtis: giovanissima e nella gara di oggi con una pioggia di risultati" (in Italian). nuoto.com. Retrieved 16 April 2023.
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