Mare Nostrum is a fast-paced, monetarily-enticing series of swim meets through the Mediterranean. The first stop came in Monaco over the weekend, and the circuit is moving straight through to its next stop, Canet-en-Roussillon, France on Wednesday and Thursday.
Though this stop of the circuit will not include female money-earning leader Katinka Hosszu, there are still loaded fields in each event as some of the top British, Canadian and Polish athletes will make their Mare Nostrum debuts in Canet.
Canet-en-Roussillon stop – Mare Nostrum
The series is a whirlwind tour – last weekend’s Monaco stop (June 7-8) was followed by a swing through Canet-en-Roussillon, France on Wednesday and Thursday (June 11-12), with the series wrapping up this Saturday and Sunday in Barcelona, Spain (June 14-15). The circuit has a huge monetary pull, as 50,000€ (or about $68,085 in American dollars) is up for grabs at the Monaco stop alone. In addition, the top 4 overall finishers on the circuit will win prize money, starting at 7,000€ ($9531) for the top male and female. Here’s a quick breakdown of the Canet prize distribution:
Prize Money
For each event:
- 1st: 330€ ($449)
- 2nd: 180€ ($245)
- 3rd: 90€ ($122)
There are also bonuses available for record-breaking swims:
- Canet Meet record: 300€ ($408)
- Mare Nostrum Series record: 600€ ($817)
- European Record: 1500€ ($2042)
- World Record: 9000€ ($12256)
Finally, at the end of the series, the top four finishers for both men and women receive even bigger prizes:
- 1st place: 7000€ ($9532)
- 2nd place: 2000€ ($2723)
- 3rd place: 1000€ ($1361)
- 4th place: 500€ ($680)
An explanation of the prizes awarded can be found here, courtesy of the Mare Nostrum website.
Storylines to Watch
1. The British are coming! The biggest boost to Canet’s lineup nationality-wise is a huge portion of the Great Britain national team that includes all sorts of big names. Most notable are sprinters Francesca Halsall and Ben Proud, but the British crew also includes Jazz Carlin, Lauren Quigley, Aimee Willmott, Liam Tancock and Ross Murdoch among others.
2. Le Clos branches out: South African Chad le Clos has become perhaps the most feared butterflyer in the world, and he’s also developing into a big-time IMer. But he’ll continue to expand his event repertoire in Canet, adding a pair of races we don’t often see him swim. Le Clos will swim the 100 free and 200 back in addition to his usual 100 and 200 flys, and he holds the top seed in all four races. He’ll have some serious competition, though, from Nathan Adrian in the 100 free and Ryosuke Irie in the 200 back. All the same, it’ll be interesting to see how le Clos stacks up against some of the best in the world in those off events.
3. Tough backstrokes get even tougher: We noted how loaded the men’s backstrokes were in Monaco, and the addition of Polish National Record-holder Radoslaw Kawecki only makes things more complicated. Kawecki is a three-time European Champion and finished fourth at the London Olympics in the 200 back, but he’s also coming off of a disappointing disqualification at Polish nationals over the weekend. Also in those backstroke races are Irie, American Ryan Murphy, Brit Liam Tancock and Frenchman Jeremy Stravius.
4. No Hosszu opens door for Danes: With female money-leader Katinka Hosszu taking this stop off, the door is open for the next few swimmers to pass her up on the money lists. Closest behind her at this point are Danish stars Jeanette Ottesen and Rikke Moller Pedersen. Ottesen, a butterflyer and freestyler, would seem to have more events to make money in, though Moller Pedersen looks like a heavy favorite in all three breaststroking distances.
Live results are at: http://www.liveffn.com/cgi-bin/resultats.php?competition=23489&langue=fra
papillon – fly, dos – back, brasse – breast, libre – free, 4 nages – IM.
4:13.0 for Seto in the 400 IM and 56.9 for Ottesen in the 100 fly.
Muffat posted her season best in the 200 free to win at 1:56.2, with the rising star of the French women’s team Charlotte Bonnet coming up quick with a 1:57.00 for second, which is not too far off her best time.
So where are the live results? I’m having a hard time finding them. I have a lot of teammates swimming in this meet.
No way le Clos swimming anywhere close to 1:42.29 in lcm 200free
No way he ever done 46,… in 100 free either ! LOL LOL LOL
It was the same at the Monaco stop. Le Clos entry time in 400 IM was 3.59.23, 1.52.31 in 200 IM. Fernando Silva had a 50.20 in 100 fly, Le Clos 1.48.56 in 200 fly, Le Clos 1.42.29 in 200 free (could be true), Devon Brown 3.37.91 in 400 free. I think that the people who make the start lists should notice that these times cant be right.
It looks like they were entered in SCM times for some reason?!?
I was thinking the same thing, is it not a Short Course competition then?
Or there have been a lot of World Records swum in South Africa that we haven’t heard about (e.g. 100 and 400 free)!!
all the South African swimmers are seeded with crazy times
Chad Le Clos is seeded with a 49.0 in the 100 fly and 46.6 in the 100 free… Yeah right
no, not all South Africans, look at the ladies
200m freestyle in Monaco and you will see
that she swam a better time that she was
entered with!
It also doesn’t mean I agree with you!!!!
^^^^^ Also with the women’s 200 freestyle.
Interesting how Camille Lacourt pulled out of the meet because of his hip… Either way, the backstroke races for the men are going to be intense! It also seems that the women’s 50 and 100 freestyle and 50 and 100 backstroke events will be close, too, with the addition of the British. Fast swimming seems to be in the future!