2022 Mare Nostrum Tour: Tom Dean Lowers Barcelona Meet Record At Day 1 Prelims

2022 MARE NOSTRUM TOUR – BARCELONA

• Wednesday, May 25th & Thursday, May 26h
• Club Natació Sant Andreu, Barcelona
• LCM (50m)
• Meet Central
• Entries – Barcelona
• Livestream
• Results

Two-time Olympic gold medalist Tom Dean got his 2022 Mare Nostrum campaign off to a good start on Wednesday morning in Barcelona, establishing a new meet record in the men’s 200 freestyle to claim the top seed for tonight’s final.

Dean, the 2021 Olympic champion in the event, put up a time of 1:46.89 to edge out the previous mark set by his countryman James Guy, who clocked 1:46.91 at the competition back in 2016.

Dean, who got out to an aggressive start with a 51.06 opening 100, was only two-tenths shy of the winning time produced by South Africa’s Matt Sates (1:46.69) en route to winning the event at the opening stop in Monaco (where Dean was absent).

Dean owns a season-best time of 1:45.73, set at the British Trials in April, which ranks him sixth in the world this season (it’s worth noting he was pre-qualified for the World Championships and likely didn’t fully taper for that competition).

Sates qualified second this morning in 1:47.98, while Japan’s Katsuhiro Matsumoto rounded out the top three in 1:48.10.

Another big-time swim in the heats came in the women’s 100 breaststroke, where Germany’s Anna Elendt soared to the top time by over a second in 1:05.82.

Elendt, who swims at the University of Texas in the NCAA, set a new German Record earlier this year at the Pro Swim Series stop in San Antonio in late March, clocking 1:05.58, a time that ranks her third in the world this season.

She’ll have a great chance at lowering that mark in the final, and her prelim time is already faster than what reigning Olympic champion Lydia Jacoby went to win the opening stop in Monaco (1:06.55).

Japan’s Reona Aoki qualified second into the final in 1:07.10, while Jacoby advanced sixth in 1:08.19.

OTHER TOP QUALIFIERS

A reminder that the 50-meter events return to a traditional prelims/finals format in Barcelona after the skins format we saw in Monaco.

• Women’s 50 back – Kylie Masse (CAN), 27.72
• Men’s 50 breast – Joao Gomes Junior (BRA), 27.18
• Women’s 50 fly – Melanie Henique (FRA), 25.80
• Men’s 400 IM – David Verraszto (HUN), 4:18.86
• Women’s 100 free – Kayla Sanchez (CAN), 54.10
• Men’s 100 back – Ryosuke Irie (JPN), 53.80
• Men’s 50 free – Bruno Fratus (BRA), 22.23
• Women’s 200 back – Eszter Szabo-Feltothy (HUN), 2:11.66
• Men’s 200 breast – Arno Kamminga (NED), 2:09.17
• Women’s 200 fly – Kina Hayashi (JPN), 2:08.83
• Men’s 100 fly – Kristof Milak (HUN), 51.65
• Women’s 200 IM – Katinka Hosszu (HUN), 2:11.98
• Women’s 400 free – Miyu Namba (JPN), 4:10.43