2017 MARE NOSTRUM TOUR – MONACO
- June 10-11, 2017
- Monaco
- Psych sheets
- Prelims 9am/Finals 5pm (GMT +2)
- Meet central
The 2017 Mare Nostrum tour, which usually brings lots of international attention, kicks off with the Monaco stop this weekend, June 10th and 11th. Many huge names spanning multiple continents are on the psych sheets, with some fantastic races specifically in the sprints looking to highlight the weekend.
Monaco is the first stop of the tour, with Barcelona acting as the 2nd stop of the tour on June 13th and 14th. The final stop will be in Canet-en-Roussillon, and that will take place June 17th and 18th.
PRIZE MONEY
Swimmers who excel at multiple or many events can rake in some serious money through the Mare Nostrum tour. The ultimate prize would be the 15,000 € reward for breaking a world record, which is offered by the Monégasque Swimming Federation. That comes out to nearly $17,000 USD, and last year Cate Campbell (as do the Japanese 200 breaststrokers) proved that it doesn’t need to be a summer championship meet to break a world record.
Here’s a breakdown of the prize money for the tour. The total prize money available for Monaco is 50,000 €.
- Mare Nostrum (all-tour) record – 750 €
- Meet record – 600 €
- Regular events
- 1st – 330 €
- 2nd – 180 €
- 3rd – 90 €
- Speed tournament
- 1st – 600 €
- 2nd – 300 €
- 3rd (semi-finalist) – 75 €
- 4th (semi-finalist) – 75 €
MEET PREVIEW
As mentioned before, Cate and her sister Bronte Campbell are two of the sprint stars on the women’s side. They are both entered in the 50 and the 100 free, while Cate is also the 6th seed in the 200 free, an event which she has been swimming more frequently over the past year. Other Australian sprinter freestylers include Brittany Elmslie, Madison Wilson, and Madeline Groves. On the other end of the distance spectrum is GBR’s Jazmin Carlin, the top seed in the 400 free and the 3rd seed in the 200 free.
The Campbells will be battling with Swedish star Sarah Sjöström, who has been dropping some serious speed this season as we get closer to Worlds. Sjöström is sticking with a simple sprint schedule, as she’s entered in the 50 and 100 free and 50 and 100 fly. While the Campbell sisters dominated headlines leading up to the Rio Games, the Swede has been far more impressive in 2017 and is knocking on the 50 free world record. Her countrymates Michelle Coleman and Jennie Johansson will join her in Monaco. Coleman is seeded 2nd in the 200 free and 4th in the 100 free, while Johansson is the 100 breast top seed and 50 breast 2nd seed.
Of course, we will be seeing Hungarian 3-time Olympic champion Katinka Hosszu, and lots of her. She’s taking on every single event, though luckily for her, there are 50’s of stroke and no events longer than 400 meters in Monaco. Hosszu is the top seed in both IM’s, the 100 and 200 back, the 200 free, and the 200 fly. This isn’t a FINA World Cup event, otherwise Hosszu would be limited to just four events to compete in, which would take out eleven prelims-finals races from her schedule this weekend were it a World Cup event.
Other big names on the entry lists for the women include Russian breaststroker Yulia Efimova, rising Japanese teen Rikako Ikee, British star Siobhan-Marie O’Connor, Canadian youngster Mary-Sophie Harvey, and Australian backstroker Emily Seebohm.
The men’s field is also very stacked, more so in the sprint free, where some of Australia, GBR, Brazil, and France’s best will be going head-to-head. James Magnussen will be returning to competition, seeded 2nd in the 100 free, 7th in the 50 free, and 17th in the 200 free (going the Cate Campbell route here). In the 50, though, eyes will be on top seed and Aussie Cameron McEvoy, along with Briton Ben Proud, Brazilian Bruno Fratus, and Ukrainian Andrii Govorov. Frenchman Clément Mignon is yet another big sprint name in the mix in Monaco.
Getting into the mid-distance, reigning Olympic champion Mack Horton is seeded 1st in the 400 and 6th in the 200. That 200 free could be one of the most hotly-contested meets of the weekend, with James Guy leading a stacked field that includes Australians Thomas Fraser-Holmes and McEvoy along with GBR’s Calum Jarvis and South Africa’s Myles Brown.
Brown’s countrymate Cameron van der Burgh will race Brazil’s Felipe Lima and Japan’s Yasuhiro Koseki in the sprint breaststrokes, while Koseki is far and away the top seed in the 200 breast. The 200 will also feature Russia’s Kiriil Prigoda, the only other swimmer seeded under 2:10 in the field besides Koseki. Meanwhile, Hungarian veteran Laszlo Cseh holds top seeds in four events– all three butterfly races, and the 200 IM.
is there a stream of the meet anywhere?
flo$wimming
These are the key meets for worlds to test your form.
In what way?
I would actually amend that question to read “For whom ??”. Whilst I can agree these are invaluable racing meets, swimmers will be at various points of their preparation; some have the capacity to be fast in season whilst others don’t …. and not all nations have finalised selections.
It’s true. It is hard to know what plans are of each swimmer coming this meet. On the one hand it maybe the best situation for Sjostrom to challenge world record at 50 free racing with Campbell sisters. Same way as she made world record at 50 fly: local or intermediate meets without no pressure of failing. On the other hand she is well aware of what have happened to Pellegrini and Cate Campbell when they made outstanding personal bests just one month prior the major meet of the year.
Interesting points, hard to know what to expect from C1 given she ISN’T racing Worlds plus her distinctly mixed performance pattern at AUS Nats. As for C2, when fully fit (ala 2015) she CAN be quite quick in season although not the extent of big sister. When it comes to the 50, unless its a slow race and raced “north” of 24.0-24.1; I’m tending to discount C2 as she hasn’t swum a fast 50 since 2015 Worlds. Still very much a player at 100 IF she’s in good shape but less so for the shorter trip.
CW, You’d be able to answer this. Are the Australians staying in Europe straight through Budapest? If yes, June 9-July 30 is a long time to be on the road together away from their own beds. If no, those are two long flights they have to endure.
Frankly don’t know. Their line-up will alter from meet to meet. McKeon is not racing Monaco but will be racing Barcelona. Other than that …….
Sometimes they have stayed in Europe up until Worlds….not sure about this group. I think they got to Monaco on Sunday or Monday.
Toss up to stay – very expensive or to return & make another .I’d be avoiding the recently common route via UAE Qatar .Check the app for the flight patterns of Qatar Air in the new Gulf pre war .
Some are staying there for the 10 weeks (going by Mad Wilsoni’s IA post about being away for 10 weeks) while others aren’t. I think it depends on the squad. Because when Shayna pulled out of Monaco due to a chest infection, she mentioned it would have been 2 weeks away as opposed to the 10 weeks – which would include the WCs which she’s qualified for.
And that meant to be Madi Wilson not the typo I made!
If C1 is in good shape (and why should we think that she isn’t) I’m ready to bet she comes to this meet not to beat Sarah, but first of all to return her record back that was taken from her by Sjostrom two months ago. There is some opinion that Cate Campbell is in trouble but there is no evidence of her to be in bad shape. 2016 was actually a good season when she was at great form: outstanding world record, perfectly executed duties at both Australian relays finishing one of them with world record time. Just two strange final individual races cannot cross out everything very successful that was done in 2016. If it was some psychological… Read more »
Hosszu is three time Olympic champion, not two.
Alex Auster team dilex ftw, darkhorse Montana champagne in the 50 free after big performance at eosa word champs
translation?
traduction please …..lol
Seebohm vs Hosszu can be exciting in back, too.
BTW Hosszu is a three time champion.
If she indeed is going to swim everything she entered I’m not sure she will have enough energy to compete with Seebohn. If I have it right, 100 and 200 backstroke comes after long freestyle races.
I’m not sure if Hosszu unfolds her real shape in any events before Budapest, whilst Seebohm has already made it clear that she is back to the top. That’s why I wrote “can be”. When Hosszu saves some energy for back, that’s always an exciting race in between them, long course or short course, however my guess is that she scratches 100m this year.
And the way they work all 50’s at this stop is to have 5 rounds, prelims, top 16, top 8, top 4, top 2! It is a stacked field and should be fun……it is on floswimming but is pricey. But a great start to an awesome series. Too bad Americans can’t go because of our early Trials.
I’d love to see a Campbell sister duel or either one vs Sjöström in the 50 free but I feel like the times will be a letdown because of the format. I would rather see one really fast race than three decent ones.
If Sjöström swims what she’s entered it means she will have up to 14 races instead of 8 in two days. 100 free final is after about 10 races. Campbells are a bit more fine with no butterfly events but this is gonna affect times.
This meet will be really really interesting. I especially look forward to see the ladies sprints and the Campbells vs Sjöström and what will super talent Ikee do? A taste of Budapest and Tokyo at the same time. And then the mens sprint too.. gonna be an interesting weekend for sure
Ikee is only entered in the 50 butterfly here though. That’s definitely an event I can see her medal in in Budapest.