• Thomas Ceccon won his third gold medal of the European Championships.
• Ceccon finished in 51.21 seconds, just 0.03 seconds faster than Apostolos Christou of Greece.

Thomas Ceccon claims his third gold medal of the European Championships by winning the men’s 100-meter backstroke on Wednesday.

Ceccon finished in 51.21 seconds, just 0.03 seconds faster than Apostolos Christou of Greece. This continued Italy’s strong performance.

Ceccon is the world champion in this event. He has also won the 50-meter butterfly and was on the winning team in Rome for the 4×100-meter freestyle.

The Italians have won 12 gold medals out of a total of 34, which puts them far ahead of everyone else.

“I wanted to pace myself and then finish faster but I ended up starting off quickly and finishing it that way. And now I’m really the world number one,” said Ceccon.

Ben Proud of Britain won the 50-meter freestyle to add to the gold medal he won in the same event at the World Championships in June.

The 27-year-old swimmer, who also won the 50m butterfly at the recent Commonwealth Games in England, beat home favourite Leonardo Deplano by only 0.02 seconds to win.

After coming in fifth in the 50m freestyle at the Olympics last year, this win shows that he is back to his old self.

“This is a great achievement… After the Olympics it took me a while to face my demons and realise that I needed to make some changes,” said Proud.

“I had three goals — Worlds, Commonwealth, Europeans — and now it all really feels surreal.”

With a time of 29.59sec, world champion Ruta Meilutyte won the women’s 50m breaststroke, beating out world record holder Benedetta Pilato of Italy.

Former Olympic champion Meilutyte, who is 25 years old, was banned for two years because she missed three doping tests. In December, she was allowed to compete again.