Lydia Jacoby, Thomas Ceccon & Ruta Meilutyte Entered In Mare Nostrum Barcelona

2023 MARE NOSTRUM TOUR – BARCELONA

• Wednesday, May 17th & Thursday, May 18th
•  Club Natació Sant Andreu, Barcelona, Spain
• LCM (50m)
• World Championships Qualifier
• Meet Central
• Entries/Live Results
• Livestream

The second stop of the 2023 Mare Nostrum Tour is upon us, as the action kicks off in Barcelona tomorrow, Wednesday, May 17th.

A good amount of the competition from last week’s meet in Canet remains intact, including Michael Andrew of the United States, Marrit Steenbergen of the Netherlands and Ippei Watanabe of Japan.

However, there are some notable changes headed into tomorrow’s racing.

For one, Swedish multi-Olympic medalist Sarah Sjostrom is absent from the Barcelona start lists despite having raced in Canet. Last weekend the 29-year-old clinched double gold, taking the women’s 50m free (24.02) and 50m fly (25.24) events.

Another big change is the fact that a sizable Italian continent will be present, including Nicolo Martinenghi, Thomas Ceccon, Arianna Castiglioni and Elena Di Liddo.

This Mare Nostrum stop provides an important tune-up racing opportunity for the Italians. Although their Championships took place last month, racers still have a chance to nab World Championships qualifying marks next month at the Sette Colli Trophy.

We saw Ireland’s Ellen Walshe and Shane Ryan compete in Canet but several teammates will be joining them for this second stop. Newly-minted 100m backstroke national record holder Danielle Hill is among the squad on the start lists, along with Darrah Greene, Conor Ferguson and Victoria Catterson.

The same holds true for Great Britain, which sees its list of racers grow with this stop #2. World champion Ben Proud is among the entrants, along with distance ace Daniel Jervis, Olympic sprint finalist Anna Hopkin and fast-improving butterflied Jamie Ingram.

Canada will also be showing up with a strong presence, with Olympians Maggie MacNeill and Penny Oleksiak among those set to compete.

We reported earlier this year how 22-year-old Oleksiak opted out of the Canadian Trials which concluded last month, instead opting to continue to rehabilitate her knee from surgery last year. Here in Barcelona, the multi-Olympic champion is entered in the 50m/100m free/200m free and the 50m fly events.

Other significant additions to the Barcelona competition include Olympic champion Lydia Jacoby of the United States, Ruta Meilutyte of Lithuania, Ksawery Masiuk of Poland and Hugo Gonzalez of Spain.

19-year-old Jacoby competed at the Pro Swim Series in Westmont last month where she won the 100m breast in a time of 1:06.09, placed 5th in the 200m breast in a mark of 2:26.57 and took the 50m breast in a result of 30.29.

Notable Start List Additions from Canet to Barcelona

• Bosnia & Herzegovina – Lana Pudar
• Canada – Penny Oleksiak, Maggie MacNeil, Katarine Savard, Javier Acevedo, Finlay Knox, Mary Sophie-Harvey
• Egypt – Farida Osman
• Finland – Ari-Pekka Liukonnen
• Great Britain – Daniel Jervis, Greg Butler, Anna Hopkin, Ben Proud, Ed Mildred, Jamie Ingram, Luke Turley, Kieran Bird
• Iceland – Anton McKee
• Ireland – Danielle Hill, Darragh Greene, Conor Ferguson, Victoria Catterson
• Italy – Silvia Scalia, Nicolo Martinenghi, Simone Cerasuolo, Federico Poggio, Elena Di Liddo, Thomas Ceccon, Michele Lamberti, Martina Carraro, Arianna Castiglioni, Alessandro Miressi, Leonardo Deplano, Alberto Razzetti, Ilaria Cusinato, Federico Burdisso, Matteo Rivolta, Filippo Megli
• Japan – Airi Mitsui, Teppei Morimoto, Ruka Takezawa
• Lithuania – Andrius Sidlauskas, Ruta Meilutyte
• Poland – Ksawery Masiuk, Jakob Majerski, Kacper Majchrzak, Krzysztof, Chmielewski
• Spain – Hugo Gonzalez, Jessica Vall, Alba Vazquez Ruiz, Joan Louis Pons Ramon
• Sweden – Louise Hansson, Sophie Hansson
• Switzerland – Roman Mityukov, Lisa Mamie, Antonio Djakovic
• United States – Lydia Jacoby