On day 2 of the second stop of the 2014 Mare Nostrum series in Canet, France, the men’s sprint freestyles were again in focus.
Cuba’s Hanser Garcia, an incredibly high-potential guy who has slipped back off of swimming radars over the last year, took the top seed in 49.11. That’s half-a-second faster than anybody else in the field went in prelims.
Still, he will be in a battle to even finish in the money with a top 3 placing. The 2nd seed is Japan’s Shinri Shioura (49.61), and in 3rd is American Nathan Adrian (49.68), who showed over the weekend in Monaco that his prelims swims in the 100 free are little compared to what he’s capable of in a finals swim.
The other swimmer who will battle Garcia for the event win is the other American, Anthony Ervin, who actually wound up with the day’s best time to this point. He was a 49.92 to tie for 8th place with Belgium’s Emmanuel Vanluchene, but in the swim-off, Ervin was a 48.9 to get into the final.
Otherwise on the men’s side, Canadian Jeremy Bagshaw holds the top seed so far in the 800 free with an 8:06.99 and the fast heat still to go.
Junya Koga is the top seed in the men’s 100 back going into finals, swimming a 54.92. That put him ahead of American Ryan Murphy (55.47) in prelims, but lurking back as the 4th seed is Monaco winner Ryosuke Irie (55.62). Irie’s presence in this race means that it will take at least under a 54 to win.
After a 1-2 finish in the 50 breaststroke on Wednesday, the British men are back out in front in the 50 too, with Adam Peaty as the top seed in 27.51 and Ross Murdoch 2nd in 27.84. Murdoch is historically a little bit of a better 50 breaststroker, and after winning the 100 he’ll have confidence, but Peaty is beating on the door of his lifetime best and will have that motivation behind him.
Those two will get an even greater challenge in the finals today; Russia’s Andrey Nikolaev is the 3rd seed in 27.85, followed by Andrew Wetheritt (27.96), and a handful of other guys a tenth behind that.
Another Danish Record, the 3rd of this meet, went down in the men’s 200 fly. Viktor Bromer swam a 1:57.60, which just cleared his own lifetime best of 1:57.67 as the Danish National Record. He was very close to the mark in Monaco, but has now ducked under.
He’ll have a good competitor to race in finals with Poland’s Pawel Korzeniowski looking very good en route to a 1:57.65 in prelims. Korzeniowski was out a full second faster than Bromer at the 100, so that should give the Dane a good rabbit if he wants to take the record even lower. There was no swim from defending World Champion Chad le Clos in this race, as he’s scratched the meet after a tough first session on Wednesday, apparently battling fatigue from some really heavy training.
On the women’s side, the 100 free saw the top 6 swimmers all go better than 55 seconds in a stepped-up final as compared to Monaco.
For example, American Natalie Coughlin was a 54.86 in prelims of the 100 free at the last stop of this tour, and that got her a 2-seed. Here in Canet, she was the same prelims time, and it earned her only the 6th seed.
Ahead of her is Denmark’s Pernille Blume, who has consistently swum well this week, in 54.40, followed by the Russian Record holder Veronika Popova in 54.45.
Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace (54.55), Fran Halsall (54.79), and Amy Smith (54.85) are all also just ahead of Coughlin. Rounding out the top 8 is France’s Charlotte Bonnet (55.16) and South Africa’s Karin Prinsloo (55.22).
France’s Camille Muffat didn’t swim that race, and instead is saving her energy for the 400 free, where she’s the top seed in 4:10.14 and will fight off Welsh swimmer Jazz Carlin (4:10.14). Expect times to drop four-or-five seconds for the winner in finals. That’s a loaded final as well, with among others, Prinsloo doubling up on the 100 free.
Mie Nielsen might not join the Danish Record crew at this meet after a 1:01.18 in prelims, but that does make her the top seed headed for finals. Georgia Davies (1:01.21) from Loughborough in the UK and 50 back winner Etiene Medeiros (1:01.39) are with her in a grouping of the top three seeds. Russia’s Daria Ustinova is not far back in a 1:02.14.
Another Danish swimmer, Rikke Moeller-Pedersen, took two top seeds in prelims, about 90 minutes apart. First came the 50 breaststroke in a 31.87 ahead of Israel’s Amit Ivry (31.92) and American Katie Meili (31.94). Later, in Moeller-Pedersen’s specialty event, the 200 breaststroke, she was a 2:25.55 for another top seed. Japan’s Kanako Watanabe, who was a scratch from the 100 yesterday, is the second seed here in 2:26.24.
Ottesen, who broke the Danish National Record in the 50 free and 100 fly on Wednesday, is a full second away in the 50 fly after prelims with a 26.30. Given what we’ve seen from her already, however, expect her to be much, much closer in the evening session.
In the 200 fly, another name is emerging in what has been a recently-deep line of British 200 butterfliers. 24-year old Alys Thomas swam a lifetime best of 2:10.46 for the top seed, which is half-a-second faster than her time from British Nationals in April.
Speaking of countries with depth in the event, the 2nd seed went to China’s Shuang Li in 2:10.66. Olympic finalist Cammile Adams (2:10.68) from the United States is the 3rd seed.
B-Finals begin at 4PM Canet time, with finals starting at 6PM Canet time. That’s 10 Eastern U.S. time for B-finals and noon Eastern U.S. time for A-finals.
Men’s 200 fly
1. Pawel Korzeniowski in 1.56.12
Women’s 200 fly
1. Cammile Adams in 2.08.54
Wow, David Marsh sure has his work cut out for him! He has to somehow meet the specific needs of athletes the US needs to excel in events as diverse as the 50 free (Jones), 200 breast (Lawrence), 200 fly (Adams), etc, etc…. I sure hope he is successful and gets an Olympic Team coaching position out of the deal! Not to take anything away from Bob Bowman, whose work I greatly respect, but his job seems relatively easier in comparison since most of his swimmers seem to be aiming toward middle to distance freestyle events or distance stroke events which rely heavily upon aerobic conditioning (is: 200 fly/400 IM). I guess Phelps is probably an exception, but Bob has… Read more »
Women’s 100 back
1. Mie Nielsen in 59.85
Men’s 200 breast
1. Yasuhiro Koseki in 2.09.77
Women’s 200 breast
1. RMP in 2.19.67! 😯 😯 😯
Men’s 100 free
1. Nathan Adrian in 48.43
2. Hanser Garcia in 48.77
5. Anthony Ervin in 49.70
Women’s 100 free
1. Pernille Blume in 53.89
The Danish girls are again on fire. What a fantastic medley relay they have now!
5. Natalie Coughlin in 54.88
Men’s 200 IM
1. Daiya Seto in 1.57.32
2. Ryosuke Irie in 1.59.36! I don’t remember watching him already swim that event.
Women’s 400 IM
1. Aimee Willmott in 4.35.41
Pedersen is a beast! Wow! Adrian is looking good this year.
Like if he was looking weak last year !!!!!!!!!!! very funny this one
he is gonna be way better this year that last year ! that’s my prediction to date !
Men’s 100 back
1. Ryosuke Irie in 53.24
3. Ryan Murphy in 54.84
Wow, Irie sure swims faster in-season than most people. I wonder if it has to do with his slender body type or because he does so much yardage or perhaps low yardage? Does anybody have a theory?
I’ve also remarked that most of Japanese swimmers swim fast all year. Not only Irie.
She did it! 🙂
Women’s 400 free
1. Camille Muffat in 4.04.58
I was a little scared by her crazy fast start but she held on.
57.36 at the 100
1.58 something at the half-race
She’s definitely back at a very high level after several months without serious training to have a little needed break. She trains again seriously for 3 or 4 months.
Jazz Carlin came back strong but finished second in 4.04.82.
It looks like she’s got her ‘guts’ back if she’s going out in 1:58s again. I would like to see her and Coralie Balmy do well this summer. Balmy always seems to be just on the edge of medals at big internationals.
Did anyone notice that Ryosuke Irie was 2nd in the 200 IM with a 1:59.3? Have we ever seen him swim that event before? That’s one hell of a debut!
2:19.6 for Moller-Pedersen in the 200 breast. Man, she makes it look easy. This is a FAST pool!
A-Finals now!
Men’s 50 breast
1. Adam Peaty in 27.19
Women’s 50 breast
1. RMP in 31.00
Men’s 50 fly
1. Konrad Czerniak in 23.59
Women’s 50 fly
1. Jeanette Ottesen in 25.49
Now I’m going to watch the women’s 400 free with Camille Muffat.
A win in 4.05 or better would be another good thing after her great 200 free yesterday.
Oo. Was holing florent and Adrian would race in the final. I’m not sure either is rested, but manaudou could have been pushed to a new pb. France really needs him in the 4×100. 48,7 is great for him. Is that a new in season best?
Not a new in-season best for Manaudou.
I usually have a pretty good memory and I’ve just remembered he swam fast last year at the same period of the year at the Sette Colli meet in Italy.
I’ve made a little research and yes, he swam 21.80 in the 50 free and 48.41 in the 100 free.
The difference is that he’s, in my opinion, much less rested this year.
I predict 21.23 and something between 47.75/48.00 next month. I’m perhaps, and it’s unusual, cautious, but a sub 48 would be a good first step. He has 2 full years to learn that event and be ready for Rio.
Better afternoon for Manaudou.
He’s just won the 100 free B-Final in 48.74.
Unrested!
Too bad he slept during the prelims. He said he wanted to swim against Nathan Adrian, which doesn’t happen very often.
For the US fans, Cullen Jones 6th in 50.65.
And Jacob Pebley has won the 100 back B-Final in 55.78.
Bad morning for French male stars Manaudou and Stravius.
Manaudou not qualified in the A-Final in the 100 free prelims with the 11th time in 49.97.
Stravius eliminated in the 100 back prelims with the 27th time in 57.74! 😯