Mare Nostrum: Six Meet Records Fall in Barcelona

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
• Barcelona meet website
• Results will be posted here

The annual Mare Nostrum series enters its second leg on Wednesday, with participants moving to Barcelona, Spain after a weekend stop in Canet, France.

Mare Nostrum is a fast-paced, lucrative tour of the Mediterranean, with two-day meets in France, Spain and Monaco spread out over just 8 days.

This year’s tour will draw some of the top names in all of swimming, from the world’s biggest swimming nations, including Hungary, Great Britain, Denmark, the Netherlands, Japan, South Africa and the United States.

PRIZE MONEY

The Mare Nostrum series has a complex and thorough system of prize money, with athletes earning money both for the individual stops and for the series as a whole.

Mare Nostrum Series Prizes

At the end of the series, each swimmer’s best overall swim (in terms of FINA points) from each meet gets added together for an overall series score. The top 4 men and top 4 women all earn prize money:

• 1st: 7000€ ($7,782)
• 2nd: 2000€ ($2,223)
• 3rd: 1000€ ($1,112)
• 4th: 500€ ($556)

Estimated converted U.S. Dollar amounts are rounded to the nearest dollar.

Individual Meet prizes

Each event pays out prize money to the top 3 finishers:

• 1st: 330€ ($367)
• 2nd: 180€ ($200)
• 3rd: 90€ ($100)

Meet and series records yield bonuses:

• Mare Nostrum record: 600€ ($667)
• Meet record: 600€ ($667)

On top of all that, each stop runs 50s of each stroke in one-on-one, knockout bracket fashion. The qualifiers for the semi-finals and final all earn money:

• 1st (Final winner): 600€ ($667)
• 2nd (Final loser): 300€ ($334)
• 3rd (Consolation winner): 100€ ($111)
• 4th (Consolation loser): 50€ ($56)

Six competition records fell on the first night of the Mare Nostrum Series in Barcelona.

The first came in the women’s 400 IM where Hungarian Katinka Hosszu won the event in a time of 4:31.39, placing herself atop of the world rankings. Hosszu takes over the top spot in the rankings from Hannah Miley of Great Britain, the same woman who held the competition record coming into the evening.

Miley held the meet record with a time of 4:33.25 which she posted last year.

Miley finished second to Hosszu in the event this evening recording a time of 4:36.95. She was followed by Spaniard Catalina Corro Larente who hit the wall in a time of 4:40.08.

Danish star Mie Nielsen was the next athlete to set a new meet record. Nielsen put up a 59.37 to win the women’s 100 backstroke breaking the competition record of 49.47 set by Aya Terkawa of Japan last year. With that time Nielsen was only one one-hundredth of a second off her season’s best and national record of 59.36.

She was followed by British swimmers Elizabeth Simmonds (1:00.22) and Georgia Davies (1:00.39).

In tonight’s men’s 200 butterfly final South African Chad le Clos and Daiya Seto of Japan had a tight battle throughout the race. Seto hit the halfway mark in a time of 55.24 followed by le Clos who turned in a time of 55.39, but it was the South African who would ultimately prevail.

le Clos took the men’s 200 butterfly in a time of 1:54.90 followed by Seto who collected the silver in a time of 1:55.11. With that time le Clos set a new competition record breaking the the mark of 1:55.18 set by Daiya Seto of Japan last year.

le Clos’ time this evening also places him second to Seto in the world rankings.

Viktor Bromer of Denmark finished third in a time of 1:55.46.

Jeanette Ottesen was the second Dane of the evening to set a new competition record. Ottesen took the women’s 100 butterfly with ease hitting the wall in a time of 57.15. She broke her own meet record of 57.20, which she set last year. It is also a season’s best for Ottesen who ranks second in the world with a time of 57.23.

Fran Halsall of Great Britain finished second in a time of 58.96 followed by Natsumi Hoshi of Japan who posted a 59.22.

Kosuke Hagino of Japan dominated the men’s 200 IM hitting the wall in a time of 1:57.75, nearly three seconds ahead ofd Daniel Wallace of Great Britain who touched in a time of 2:00.71. Hagino also broke the competition record of 1:58.94 set by Laszlo Cseh in 2013.

Wallace’s teammate Roberto Pavoni finished third in a time of 2:02.18.

The final competition record set on Wednesday night was put up by Femke Heemskerk of the Netherlands. Heemskerk took the women’s 200 freestyle in a time of 1:55.22 beating the previous record of 1:56.20 set by Veronika Popova last year.

Siobhan-Marie O’Connor of Great Britain finished second in a time of 1:57.23 followed by American Melanie Margalis who hit the wall in a time of 1:57.91.

Moniek Nijhuis took the women’s 50 breaststroke in a time of 30.93. She was followed by Jenna Laukkanen who posted a 31.08 and Sally Hunter who touched in a time of 31.31.

Rikke Moller Pedersen of Denmark won the women’s 200 breaststroke in a time of 2:21.58 beating her season’s best of 2:21.60, which currently ranks second in the world. Kanako Watanabe of Japan finished second in a time of 2:23.96 followed by Canadian Kierra Smith who hit the wall in a time of 2:24.87.

The breaststroke events were particularly exciting for Laukkanen who set two in Finnish records in both the 50 and 200 events. She took down the 50 record of 31.14 set by Katja Lehtonen in 2009. Laukkanen posted a 2:26.01 in the 200 breaststroke breaking her own record of 2:28.04 which she posted last year.

Jazz Carlin of Great Britain took the women’s 800 freestyle in a time of 8:28.59. She was followed by British teammate Keri-Anne Payne who collected the silver in a time of 8:30.16. Spaniard Melanie Costa took the bronze in a time of 8:32.08.

Chris Walker-Hebborn of Great Britain won the men’s 50 backstroke in a time of 25.23. He was followed by British teammate Liam Tancock (25.48) and Takeshi Kawamoto of Japan (25.50).

Ben Proud of Great Britain won the men’s 50 butterfly in a time of 23.70 followed by Konrad Czerniak of Poland who hit the wall in a time of 23.89. le Clos collected the bronze in a time of 23.92.

Czerniak took the 100 freestyle out nearly half a second ahead of the field turning in a time of 23.66, but failed to gain a podium placing falling off the pace in the second half of the event. Ultimately Sebastiaan Verschuren of the Netherlands won the event in a time of 49.01 followed by Katsumi Nakamura of Japan who finished in a time of 49.14. Andrey Grechin of Russia finished third recording a time of 49.50.

World record holder Adam Peaty of Great Britain won the men’s 100 breaststroke in a time of 59.55. He was followed by Yasuhiro Koseki of Japan who touched in a time of 49.81 and South African Cameron van der Burgh who finished in a time of 1:00.68.

Ranomi Kromowidjojo of the Netherlands took the women’s 50 freestyle in a time of 24.59. She was followed by Ottesen (24.64) and Halsall (24.76).

The battle for the gold in the men’s 400 freestyle was a tight one between Nicholas Grainger of Great Britain, Canadian Ryan Cochrane and James Guy of Great Britain. Guy turned three seconds ahead of both Grainger and Cochrane at the halfway mark posting a split of 1:50.14.

Guy did not have enough to hold onto the lead as both Grainger and Cochrane passed him in the last half of the race. Ultimately Grainger won the event in a time of 3:48.24 followed by Cochrane (3:48.69) and Guy (3:48.83).

Ryosuke Irie of Japan led the men’s 200 backstroke from start to finish recording a winning time of 1:55.55. Irie’s Japanese teammate Masaki Kaneko took the silver in a time of 1:57.50 followed by Radoslaw Kawecki of Poland who touched in a time of 1:57.74.