The Mare Nostrum series of competitions will begin in Canet on June 6th and 7th and continue on to Barcelona, Spain on June 10th and 11th and will come to an end in Monaco, Monte Carlo on June 13th and 14th.
15 South African athletes will be competing in all three meets.
The contingent will be led by Olympic champions Chad le Clos and Cameron van der Burgh.
le Clos is currently in Doha at a training camp which includes Erin Gallagher and Myles Brown who will also compete in the Mare Nostrum series.
The will be joined by Nico Meyer, Roxanne Leigh Brown, Samantha Mikaela Labuschagne, Evan Lucian Matthysen, Bailey Grant Musgrave, Daniel Oliver Ronaldson, Catherine Claire Sainsbury, Timothy Luke Sates, Reegan Bobbie Taite and Peter Charles Wetzler.
Paralympian and world record holder Kevin Paul will also be racing in all three competitions.
“We are extremely happy with the swimmers competing at this years’ Mare Nostrum swimming meet and look forward to them showcasing exceptional world class performances,“ said Shaun Adriaanse, CEO of Swimming South Africa.
“Following their phenomenal performance at the SA National Aquatic Championships in April, the swimmers are completely focused on preparing themselves both physically and mentally for Fina World Championships.”
It’s not unusual for a sports federation to favour domestically based athletes. For example, England refuses to pick rugby players playing in the French professional league. At least SA still picks American based swimmers. Your point about the team for Kazan only being partially funded is a more serious one. That is pretty pathetic. Especially when the QT’s are set so high. The administrators need a good kicking. The money is for the swimmers, not the administrators!
It is believed that none of the American based South Africans were invited to join the South Aftican team for the Mare Nostrum.
Their world champs team is also once again only partially funded. Sad that a country with so many good swimmers is being destroyed by mismanagement by swimming South Africa. Any other federations president, ceo etc would’ve resigned or been fired ages ago