Rome, June 28 -- Four-time world champion Marrit Steenbergen etched her name into swimming history by adding a new title to her impressive resume: world-record holder.
The Dutchwoman broke the 100m freestyle world record, one of the sport's blue-riband sprint events, at the Sette Colli meet in Rome, Italy, with a stunning performance on Sunday.
Steenbergen, the reigning world gold medallist over the distance, clocked 51.68 seconds at the Foro Italico, shaving three hundredths of a second off Olympic champion Sarah Sjostrom's 51.71 mark from 2017, according to olympics.com.
The three-time Olympian won the race ahead of Siobhan Haughey of Hong Kong, China, while Sara Curtis took bronze in an Italian record of 52.69.
Before her record-brea...