2024 Mare Nostrum Barcelona: Day 2 Prelims Recap

2024 MARE NOSTRUM – BARCELONA

• May 29-30, 2024
• Prelims/Finals: 9 am / 5 pm local, 3 am / 11 am ET
• Barcelona, Spain
• LCM (50m)
• Olympic Qualifying Event
• Meet Central
• Entries
• Day 1 Finals Recap
• Live Results
• Livestream

Day 2 of the 2nd stop of the 2024 Mare Nostrum Tour unfolded today from Barcelona, with a massive lineup of events on the docket. That meant we saw several key players dive in more than once in pursuit of hardware and tune-ups ahead of the 2024 Olympic Games.

Additionally for some, this competition represents a Paris qualification opportunity, with the selection window closing fast on June 23rd.

Hungarian world record holder Kristof Milak was one such athlete who took on multiple events, racing in today’s 100m free and 200m fly.

The 24-year-old who already unleashed a big-time 50.95 Mare Nostrum Record in the 100m fly last night punched a result of 49.62 in the 1free to fall just shy of the final in 9th place.

Taking the top seed was Olympic multi-medalist Florent Manaudou of France, with the 33-year-old touching in 48.78, his first time under the 49-second threshold this season.

Manaudou opened in 23.45 and closed in 25.33 to register the sole sub-49-second result of the field. The next-closest was last night’s 200m free silver medalist and reigning world champion in that event, Hwang Sunwoo of Korea. Hwang clocked 49.11 while Italy’s Thomas Ceccon rounded out the top 3 performers in 49.15.

Additional men in the 100m free hung include Japan’s Katsuhiro Matsumoto (49.19), the 200m free victor here David Popovici of Romania (49.20) and Italy’s Alessandro Miressi (49.42).

Back in the water for the 200m fly, Milak reaped the 2nd seed in an outing of 1:57.11, within striking distance of leader Kim Minseop of Korea.

The Korean national record holder punched a time of 1:56.40 to land lane 4, but will also face Japanese Olympic qualifier Genki Terakado (1:57.22) and 5th-seeded Olympic medalist Federico Burdisso of Italy (1:57.25) among the final field.

Olympic silver medalist Arno Kamminga led a Dutch 1-2 punch in the men’s 100m breaststroke this morning.

28-year-old Kamminga notched the sole outing of the field under the minute mark, grabbing the top seed in 59.76. Tonight he’ll be flanked by countryman Caspar Corbeau who earned the 2nd slot in 1:00.27. Italy’s Olympic medalist Nicolo Martinenghi captured the 5th seed in 1:00.69.

On the women’s side, Italy’s national record holder Benedetta Pilato threw down an impressive morning swim of 29.89 to establish her dominance in the 50m breast.

The 19-year-old’s performance established a new meet record, overtaking Olympic champion Ruta Meilutyte‘s (LTU) record of 29.96 put on the books over a decade ago in 2013.

USA’s sole competitor here, Skyler Smith, wrangled up the 2nd seed in 31.09. Additional threats include Japan’s Reona Aoki (31.17), Kara Hanlon of Great Britain (31.24) and South African national record holder Lara van Niekerk (31.96).

Already having notched 2 new Israeli standards last night in the 200m back and 200m IM, 20-year-old Anastasia Gorbenko is on the prowl in the 400m IM today.

Gorbenko turned in a solid morning swim of 4:43.33, holding a narrow advantage over 17-year-old Japanese national champion Mio Narita.

Narita lurks as the 2nd seed in 4:44.17 while 2 other teammates, Waka Kobori and reigning Olympic champion Yui Ohashi will also be among the field. The former hit 4:44.92 as the 3rd seed this morning while the latter notched 4:46.77 as the 5th seed.

Of note, Spain’s stalwart Mireia Belmonte nabbed a time of 4:52.68 to be relegated to 10th place.

Louise Hansson already earned 100m fly gold last week in Canet and the Swede is seeking a 2nd consecutive victory here in Barcelona.

The 27-year-old bronze medalist from Doha put up a mark of 57.86 to stake her claim on the race, outperforming 2nd-seeded Shiho Matsumoto of Japan who claimed the 2nd seed in 58.44.

Additional Top Seeds

• Ulises Saravia Palaez of Spain stopped the clock at 25.21 to lead the men’s 50m backstroke field.
• The men’s 50m fly saw Nyls Korstanje of the Netherlands get it done for the pole position, registering 23.35. That holds a healthy advantage over teammate Thomas Verhoeven‘s 2nd-seeded 23.67 and short course world record holder Szebasztian Szabo of Hungary’s 23.75.
• The women’s 100m back was void of any sub-minute performances, as Dutch swimmer Kira Toussaint clocked 1:00.80 to grab the top spot.
• Michelle Coleman of Sweden was the top seed in the women’s 50m free, producing a morning result of 24.91. She and Hong Kong’s Siobhan Haughey (24.95) were the only athletes to delve under the 25-second threshold.
• Haughey was also in the pool for the women’s 200m free, earning the 2nd seed in 1:59.26. Taking the top spot was Belgium’s Valentine Dumont who logged 1:59.13. Spain’s Ainhoa Campabadal was the only other sub-2:00 swimmer in 1:59.99.
• Hidekazu Takehara of Japan was the top men’s 200m backstroker, hitting a time of 1:58.50. That cleared the next-closest competitor, Lee Juho of Korea, by over a second with Lee touching in 1:59.76 as the runner-up seed thus far.
• Spain’s Jessica Vall was too quick to catch this morning in the women’s 200m breast, establishing herself as the #1 seed in 2:26.76. However, Lithuania’s Kotryna Teterevkova was less than .10 behind in 2:26.85 while 23-year-old reigning world champion Tes Schouten of the Netherlands is also in the mix with a mark of 2:26.89.
• The men’s 200m IM was on the subdued side, with no man clearing the 2:02 barrier. Lorenzo Glessi of Italy landed lane 4 in 2:02.90.
• Reigning world champion Kim Woomin of Korea put on a show in the men’s 400m free, reaping the top spot by nearly 5 seconds. Kim notched 3:46.79 to easily land the pole position for this evening’s main event.