Hosszu Cranks Out Two New Meet Records During Mare Nostrum Day 1 Prelims

2015 MARE NOSTRUM SERIES

• Canet-en-Roussillon, France – June 6-7
• Barcelona, Spain – June 10-11
• Monaco – June 13-14
• Mare Nostrum website
• SwimSwam’s full coverage
• Start lists
• Live video
• Live results

After just the first session of the first stop in the 2015 Mare Nostrum Series, Hungarian Katinka Hosszu has already managed to break two meet records.  Hosszu was absolutely on-fire this morning, charging her way to a new meet mark in the 200m backstroke with her time of 2:07.67.  Hosszu certainly is capable of hacking even more time off in finals, having already clocked the world’s 4th-fastest 2:06.81 in May.  Australia’s Emily Seebohm currently sits atop the women’s 200m back throne with her time of 2:06.69….for now.

Hosszu’s other meet record came in the women’s 200m IM event, a race in which Hosszu trounced the competition by almost three full seconds to score a 2:09.47.  This is less than a second off of Hosszu’s world-leading time of 2:08.66.  Hosszu also swam the 200m freestyle and 50m backstroke, qualifying for a total of four finals – a stacked program we have grown accustomed to seeing from this powerhouse athlete.

Other notable times came in the 100 breaststroke races, where Denmark’s Rikke Moller Pedersen bettered her previous 2015 best, dipping beneath the 1:07.00 threshold for the first time this year.  Pedersen’s 1:06.99 is now ranked 7th in the world and sets her up as the top seed headed into tonight’s finals.

On the men’s side of that same race, consistent Great Britain breaststroker, Adam Peaty, swam his way to yet another sub-1:00 outing, this time leading the field in a 59.83.  South Africa’s Cameron Van Der Bergh is hot on his heels, however, touching the wall in 1:00.82, no doubt gunning for his own sub-minute effort in tonight’s finals.

Jeanette Ottesen (Denmark) was the only woman to swim under :58 in this morning’s 100m butterfly prelim. Ottesen’s 57.86 is the number one seed headed into finals and also now ranks as the 8th-fastest time in the world. She already holds the 2nd-fastest time of 57.23 from this year’s Danish Open.

Look for swimswam.com’s continued coverage of the Mare Nostrum Series with a full recap of finals later today.