Curzan wins relay gold, her third medal at the World Championships

Budapest, Hungary — Cary native Claire Curzan was a late addition to the United States' mixed 4x100-meter medley relay team, but the 17-year-old capped off a gold medal performance at the FINA World Championships in Budapest.

Curzan swam the freestyle anchor leg to win her third medal of the week. She also won the bronze medals in the 100-meter backstroke on Tuesday and the 4x100 freestyle relay on Saturday.

Curzan is also scheduled to swim the 100-meter freestyle and the 50-meter butterfly.

This past Saturday, Curzan was named the Female Athlete of the Year at HighSchoolOT Honors after graduating from Cardinal Gibbons.

Curzan is the most decorated girls swimmer in N.C. High School Athletic Association history. She was named the Girls Swimmer of the Year at HSOT Honors for the fourth consecutive year, marking the first time an athlete in any sport has won a player of the year award all four years of high school. She will swim in college at Stanford.

Last summer, Curzan won a silver medal in the 4x100 relay for Team USA at the Tokyo Olympics. That set the stage for a huge senior season.

At the 4A state championship meet, Curzan broke the overall United State record for females of all ages in the 100 butterfly, posting a time of 49.24 seconds. Later, she broke the national high school record in the 100 backstroke with a time of 49.61 seconds.

Curzan was also part of state championship relay teams in the 200 freestyle and 400 freestyle. She earned all-state honors from HighSchoolOT.