PLYMOUTH Leander stars Ruta Meilutyte and Ben Proud both claimed gold medals on the opening day of the Sette Colli Trophy Meet in Rome.

Olympic champion Meilutyte won the women’s 100m breaststroke title and Commonwealth Games champion Proud the men’s 50m freestyle crown.

World record holder Meilutyte eased through the morning heats in second place with a time of 1:07.08, before showing her class in the evening final to clock 1:06.15.

The Plymouth College pupil was exactly a second ahead of second-placed Arianna Castiglioni of Italy, with Japan’s Kanako Watanabe third in 1:07.35.

Proud clocked 22.08 seconds in the heats on the men’s 50m freestyle and then 22.07 seconds in the final to take gold ahead of Italy’s Luca Dotto, who took silver in 22.39, and Japan’s Shinri Shioura in third with 22.30.