2015 Mare Nostrum, Canet-en-Roussillon Preview: Hagino vs Lochte among stellar matchups

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

The annual Mare Nostrum series kicks off this week, with the first of three stops coming in Canet-en-Roussillon, 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)

Storylines to Watch:

A brief preview of a few major races to watch:

1. Women’s sprints: Olympic champ Ranomi Kromowidjojo is in attendance with Dutch teammates Inge Dekker and Femke Heemskerk. Great Britain enters Francesca Halsall, Denmark’s Jeanette Ottesen is a threat and Bahamian SwimMAC-er Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace is red-hot.

2. Men’s backstrokes: It’s Japan vs. France – Ryosuke Irie leads Japan, but Jeremy Stravius and Camille Lacourt have home-field advantage for France. Don’t count out Great Britain’s Chris Walker-Hebborn or Liam Tancock, not to mention Poland’s European champ Radoslaw Kawecki.

3. Women’s backstrokes: Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu is never more dangerous than in a short, brutal lineup of events like Mare Nostrum. Great Britain has a loaded backstroking corps with Georgia Davies and Lizzie Simmonds. Hilary Caldwell represents Canada and Kathleen Baker is one of the best up-and-coming Americans. Plus Zimbabwe’s Kirsty Coventry continues down the comeback trail.

4. Men’s IMs: Japan is otherworldly-strong with Irie, Daiya Seto and Kosuke Hagino, who might be the best all-around male swimmer on the planet right now. But American Ryan Lochte can never be counted out.

5. Women’s breaststrokes: Lithuanian youngster Ruta Meilutyte is a sprint sensation, and Denmark’s Rikke Moller Pedersen is the world record-holder in the 200. They’ll meet in the middle with the 100, plus American Micah Lawrence looks to make a move along with Canada’s Kierra Smith.

6. Men’s breaststrokes: Can British youngster Adam Peaty lower his 50 and 100 world records even lower? He’ll take on the previous record-holder, South Africa’s Cameron van der Burgh, who is looking for a shot at revenge after Peaty’s explosive breakout 2014 season.