The 20th Mediterranean Cup, organized by COMEN (Confédération Méditerranéenne de Natation), was contested over the weekend of June 28-29, 2014. Hosted by The Israel Swimming Association, the meet took place at the Wingate Institute – Israel’s National Center for Physical Education and Sport – in Netanya.
Member swimming confederations were allowed two swimmers per event and one relay team up to a maximum of 16 girls (born in 2000-2001) and 16 boys (born 1998-1999).
The timed-finals meet was divided into four sessions over two days, with seven individual events and one relay in each of the two sessions on Saturday and again on Sunday afternoon, and six individual events -including the distance freestyles- on Sunday morning. The busy schedule didn’t seem to have any negative effects on the swimmers, though: they broke COMEN records in 16 of the 30 events.
The Republic of Serbia’s Anja Crevar had an excellent meet, winning four events and setting COMEN records in two of them. Her titles included the girls 400 and 800 frees (4:21.92 and 8:58.22, respectively), and the 200 and 400 IM (COMEN-record times of 2:18.76 and 4:54.09).
13-year-old Janja Segel of Slovenia won the girls 100 free (58.00) and 200 free (2:04.84). Sara Pusceddu of Italy claimed golds in both backstroke events. She went 1:04.51 in the 100 and 2:17.55 in the 200, setting a COMEN record.
Slovenia’s Neza Klancar went 2:33.77 to set a record while winning the girls 200 breast. Italy’s Tania Quaglieri (1:02.53) and Giorgia Romei (2:19.88) won the 100 and 200 fly, respectively.
Marta Cano of Spain came up with four second-place finishes: girls 100 free (58.35), 200 free (2:05.67), 400 free (4:22.11) and 100 fly (1:02.88).
The top female performance of the meet was that of Turkey’s Beste Gulsen Samanci, who won the 100 breast in a record-setting 1:09.93.
On the boys side, Greece’s Nikolaos Sofianidis won two events with COMEN records in each: 56.59 for the 100 back and 2:03.50 for the 200.
The Republic of Serbia’s Andrej Barna won the 200 free in 1:52.95 and the 100 with a new COMEN record of 51.06.
Italy’s Nicolo Martinenghi won the 200 breast with a record time of 2:16.69 and finished second in the 100 (1:03.66) to teammate Federico Poggio, whose 1:03.19 set the COMEN record.
Lorenzo Glessi of Italy won the boys 200 IM with a COMEN record of 2:04.04. He also took second in the 200 free (1:53.96) and third in both backstrokes.
Both boys fly records went down during the meet: Alberto Lozano of Spain won the 100 (55.44), while Bulgaria’s Antani Ivanov claimed the 200 (2:02.57).
Tanguy Lesparre of France won the 400 IM with 4:31.12, a half-second off Luca Marin’s record from 2002. He also picked up a couple of bronze medals in the 100 breast and 200 IM. Greece’s Dimitrios Negris won the 1500 (15:37.21) and was second in the 400 (4:00.04). Spain’s Cesar Castro, who was third in the 1500, won the 400 free in 3:58.96.
Spain’s Hugo Gonzalez had three second-place finishes (100 back 56.90, 200 back 2:04.44, 200 IM 2:07.15) and a third (200 free 1:54.03).
Spain won both girls and boys 800 free relays, while Italy won all four 400 free and 400 medley relays.
Final Team Standings
| Boys | Girls | Overall | |||
| Italy | 163 | Italy | 173 | Italy | 336 |
| Spain | 148 | Spain | 127 | Spain | 275 |
| France | 108 | Slovenia | 107 | France | 181 |
| Greece | 77 | France | 73 | Greece | 129 |
| Turkey | 63 | Turkey | 57 | Turkey | 120 |
| Serbia | 40 | Greece | 52 | Slovenia | 108 |
| Israel | 27 | Serbia | 49 | Serbia | 89 |
| Bulgaria | 15 | Belgium | 13 | Israel | 37 |
| Belgium | 10 | Israel | 10 | Belgium | 23 |
| Portugal | 9 | Portugal | 5 | Bulgaria | 15 |
Top Performances
Girls:
Beste Gulsen Samanci, (2000, Turkey) – 100 Breast (1:09.93*) 783 FINA points
Anja Crevar (2000, Serbia) – 800 Free (8:58.22) 774 points
Anja Crever – 400 IM (4:54.09*) 769 points
Esther Huete (2000, Spain) – 800 Free (9:00.02) 766 points
Anja Crever – 400 Free (4:21.92) 761 points
Boys:
Dimitrios Negris (1998, Greece) – 1500 Free (15:37.21) 811 points
Nicolo Martinenghi (1999, Italy) – 200 Breast (2:16.69*) 808 points
Albert Escrits (1998, Spain) – 1500 Free (15:39.36) 806 points
Federico Poggio (1998, Italy) – 100 Breast (1:03.19*) 797 points
Cesar Castro (1999, Spain) – 400 Free (3:58.96) 781 points
*COMEN record
Records
Boys 100 m freestyle: 51.06 Barna Andrej from Serbia
Boys 100 m backstroke: 56.59 Nikolaos Sofianidis from Greece
Girls 200 m backstroke: 2:17.55 Sara Pusceddu from Italy
Boys 200 m backstroke: 2:03.50 Nikolaos Sofianidis from Greece
Girls 100 m breaststroke: 1:09.93 Gulsen Beste Samanci from Turkey
Boys 100 m breaststroke: 1:03.19 Federico Poggio from Italy
Boys 200 m breaststroke: 2:16.69 Nicolo Martinenghi from Italy
Girls 200 m breaststroke: 2:33.77 Neza Klancar from Slovenia
Boys 100 m butterfly: 55.44 Alberto Lozano from Spain
Boys 200 m butterfly: 2:02.57 Antani Ivanov from Bulgaria
Girls 200 m IM: 2:18.76 Anja Crevar from Serbia
Boys 200 m IM: 2:04.04 Lorenzo Glessi from Italy
Girls 400 m IM: 4:54.09 Crevar Anja from Serbia
Boys 400 m medley relay: 3:47.62 Italy and Hugo Gonzalez from Spain, 100 backstroke 57.01
Girls 400 m freestyle relay: 3:55.67 Italy
Girls 800 m freestyle relay: 8:26.83 Spain
Sometimes it’s a generation thing, without plausible explanations. Out of the blue, a wave of talented swimmers appear. Italy experienced that in the early 2000. All of a sudden we had Rosolino, Fioravanti, then Pellegrini and Magnini and … a big void afterwards (even though the distance guys are doing ok right now).
Spain has become a swimming powerhouse very quickly, with lots of young talent apparently! Other countries should emulate what they’ve done there. Does anybody know who/what is responsible for their success?