Italy's Benedetta Pilato competes in the semi-final of the women's 50-meter breaststroke swimming event during the European Aquatics Championships at the Duna Arena in Budapest, Hungary, May 22, 2021. /CFP
Italian teenager Benedetta Pilato set a new world record for the 50-meter breaststroke in the semi-finals of the European Swimming Championships on Saturday.
The 16-year-old clocked 29.30 seconds to better the previous best of 29.40s set by American Lilly King in 2017.
Pilato won world silver in the event behind King in Gwangju, South Korea, in 2019.
The 50-meter breaststroke, unlike backstroke and butterfly over the same distance, is not a race included in the Olympic Games.