Sara Curtis

Background Curtis was born on 19 August 2006 in Savigliano, in the province of Cuneo, to an Italian father and a Nigerian mother. She trains under the guidance of coach Thomas Maggiora with Team Dimensione Nuoto.

Career 2022 2022 European Junior Championships 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. Her medals contributed to a record 20 total medals won by Italy at a single FINA World Junior Swimming Championships.

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. 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. 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. 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. It marked her first senior national title and an Italian cadet category record.

International championships (50 m)

Personal best times Long course metres (50 m pool) Event Time Meet Location Date Age Ref 50 m freestyle 23.99 [NR] f 2026 European Aquatics Championships Paris 15 August 2026 19 100 m freestyle 52.69 [NR] f 2026 62° Trofeo Settecolli Rome 27 June 2026 18 50 m backstroke 26.56 [WR] f 2026 European Aquatics Championships Paris 13 August 2026 19 100 m backstroke 58.43 [NR] r 2026 European Aquatics Championships Paris 16 August 2026 19 Legend: r – relay 1st leg; h – preliminary heat; f – final