The 23-year-old’s time of a minute 00.26 seconds in the second semi-final betters the 1:00.89 which Elena Gemo set in 2009 and improved upon the Italian’s personal best by 1.03s.
Meanwhile, Greek teenager Panagiotis Samilidis swam a 2:10.61 in the 200m breaststroke heats to reach the semi-final.
Bence Bizco of Hungary and Austria’s Dinko Jukic made the semis of the men’s 200m butterfly with 1:57.47 and 1:57.69 respectively, with Olympic silver medallist Laszlo Cseh third on 1:58.08.
Italian Mirco Di Tora led the way in the men’s 50m backstroke with a time of 25.18 while Coralie Balmy of France laid down a marker ahead of the women’s 800m freestyle final with 8:32.45 in the first heat. Hungarian Eva Risztov led the way in heat two with 8:33.44.
