Marrit Steenbergen set a women’s 100m freestyle world record of 51.68 tonight at the Sette Colli International in Rome.

The 26-year-old Dutch athlete was out in 24.98 and home in 26.70 to better the record of 51.71 set by Sweden’s Olympic champion Sarah Sjostrom at the 2017 World Championships.

Meanwhile France’s quadruple Paris 2024 champion Leon Marchand won the 400 meter individual medley at the national championships in Saint Etienne in 4.04.56, the world best performance of the year.

Steenbergen was voted European Aquatics best women’s swimmer of 2025 after retaining her world 100m freestyle title in Singapore and then winning five titles and setting five European records at the EA Short Course Championships in Lublin.

It was the third time in a month that Steenbergen had bettered 52.00 for this event. At the Mare Nostrum Series she recorded times of  51.86 and 51.97.

The Dutch phenomenon was followed home in Rome by Hong Kong’s multiple world medallist Siobhan Haughey in 52.52 and Italy’s 19-year-old Sara Curtis – European record breaker in the opening day’s women’s 50m backstroke – who set a national record of 52.69, beating her own mark of 53.01.

Steenbergen is the only woman to break 52 seconds in the 100 freestyle on multiple occasions.

It has been a challenging month for Sjostrom, who is due to swim in Rome as part of her comeback after the birth of her son Adrian last August.

Last week her 2023 women’s 50m freestyle world record of 23.81 was broken by Kate Douglass of the United States, who clocked 23.59 at the Pro Swim Series in Indianapolis.

Steenbergen and Sjostrom both have their sights set on the European Aquatics Championships Paris 2026, where swimming will take place from August 10-16.

Marchand, who will be the French poster boy at the European Aquatics Championships Paris 2026, was entered for six events at the French Championships, which run until July 2, although he is not expected to contest all of them.

Mike Rowbottom for European Aquatics