2018 Mediterranean Games Conclude By Rattling World Rankings

XVIII MEDITERRANEAN GAMES TARRAGONA 2018

• June 23rd – June 25th (swimming)
• Tarragona, Spain
• Meet Site
• Event Schedule
• Entries
• Day 1 Recap
• Day 2 Recap
• Results

The final night of the 2018 Mediterranean Games kicked off with a historic men’s 50m freestyle. In the furious race, which you can read more about here, Kristian Gkolomeev of Greece, Oussama Sahnoune of Algeria and Ali Khalafalla of Egypt all threw down sub-22 second times to each register respective national records.

Gkolomeev won gold in 21.66, Sahnoune took silver in 21.96 and Khalafall rounded out the trio in 21.97. Sahnoune already won the men’s 100m free in a huge 48.00 last night, while Gkolomeev already nabbed 50m fly gold earlier in the meet.

Egypt’s Farida Osman was impressive in the women’s edition of the splash n’ dash, doubling up on her 50m fly victory with a win tonight in 24.83. That’s less than .2 off of her own 50m free national record and personal best mark of 24.62 established at the 2017 World Championships.

Behind Osman was Spain’s Lidon del Campo, who matched her own national record of 25.20 en route to silver. Greek swimmer Theodora Drakou also made the podium in a time of 25.31 for bronze.

National record holder Velimir Stjepanovic was victorious in the men’s 200m fly this evening, clocking 1:56.93 for the win. That mark sits just outside the world’s top 20 outings of the season and enabled the Serb to win by over a second.

Snatching silver was Italy’s Filippo Berlincioni in a time of 1:58.01, while Greece’s Stefanos Dimitriadis earned bronze in 1:58.16.

Spain’s golden girl Mireia Belmonte took her 2nd top prize of these championships, topping the women’s 200m butterfly field this evening. After a quiet day 1 where the Olympic champion took silver in the 800m free and 7th in the 400m IM, Belmonte bounced back with a decisive win in the 200m IM last night.

This evening, Belmonte clocked 2:07.80 to come within a second of her season-best of 2:07.09 thrown down at the Spanish Spring Open. That mark remains as the 5th fastest time in the world.

Portugal’s Ana Cantanina Monteiro finished just .26 behind in a big-time personal best of 2:08.06. That scored silver tonight, but also gave Monteiro a shiny new national record in the event. Italy’s Anja Klinar was 3rd in the women’s 200m fly in 2:10.26.

The women’s 200m back saw Italy’s Margherita Panziera come within .05 of the Italian national record. Firing off a winning time of 2:08.08, Panziero fell just shy of the 2:08.03 national record held by Alessia Filippi since 2009.

Spain’s Africa Zamorano and Turkey’s Ekaterina Avramova finished in 2nd and 3rd with respective times of 2:11.75 and 2:13.43.

Panziero’s performance now ranks her as 8th fastest in the world this season.

Two Italians got the job done in the men’s and women’s 400m freestyle, headed by Olympian Gregorio Paltrinieri. The 1500m victor from last night was true to form with a winning mark of 3:46.29 in this shorter race to take gold ahead of teammate Domenico Acerenza. Acerenza touched in 3:47.50 for silver, while Egyptian national record holder Marwan el Kamash also stepped onto the podium in 3:47.51 for bronze.

Paltrinieri is now ranked 7th in the world in the event.

The women’s 800m free gold medalist from night 1, Simona Quadarella established herself as the distance queen of these championships, racking up another win tonight in the 400m free. Throughout the race, Quadarella was just one step ahead of a charging Spaniard in Belmonte, but was able to maintain about a .2 lead until the wall. Quadarella finished in 4:05.68 with Belmonte narrowly in silver in 4:05.87. Portugal’s Diana Duraes was 3rd in 4:09.49.

Quadarella’s effort now situates the Italian within the world’s top 10 performers in the event so far this season.

Additional Winners:

• Italy’s Fabio Scozzoli doubled up on his 100m breaststroke win with the gold in the 50m sprint tonight, winning in 27.25. Serbia’s Caba Siladi was 2nd in 27.31, while Slovenia’s PJ Stevens took bronze in 27.32.
• Arianna Castiglioni, also of Italy, won the same event for the women, clocking a time of 31.07 for a 50m breaststroke gold medal in meet record time. behind her was teammate Martina Carraro in 31.33, with Spain’s Jessica Vall 3rd in 31.49.
• Christopher Ciccarese scored another goal for Italy, taking the men’s 200m back in 1:58.79. Spain’s Hugo Gonzalez, who is set to compete for Virginia Tech stateside, took silver in 1:58.94, while Greek swimmer Christou Apostolos was 3rd in 2:00.37.
• Greece won the men’s 4x100m medlye relay in 3:36.64, while Italy won the women’s medley relay in 3:58.27. For the Italian women, they notched a new meet record en route to the gold medal.