PLYMOUTH Leander’s Ben Proud continued his build-up for next month’s World Aquatic Championships by winning two medals at the Sette Colli International in Rome.

Proud took silver in the men’s 50m freestyle final and then added a bronze in the 50m butterfly.

The 22-year-old was up against many of the swimmers who will be his big rivals in Budapest next month.

Many countries had sent their World Championships teams to the Italian capital, including Great Britain.

Proud clocked 21.95 seconds to finish second in the one-length freestyle. He was only beaten by Brazilian Bruno Fratus, who won in 21.86. Third place went to Australian Cameron McEvoy in 21.96.

In the 50m butterfly final, Proud touched in 23.32 seconds to finish behind Ukraine’s Andriy Govorov (23.01) and Brazil’s Nicholas Santos (23.08).

Afterwards, the double Commonwealth Games champion said:  “I am very happy. I can’t think of many times I have gone faster than that in season so I am more happy with the process.”

Among the other medal winners for Great Britain was fellow former Plymouth College pupil Charlotte Atkinson.

She won silver in the women’s 200m butterfly in a time of 2:08.31.