2026 Mare Nostrum Tour — Canet-en-Roussillon: Psych Sheets and Prize Money

2026 Mare Nostrum Tour — Canet

• Wednesday May 27 — Thursday May 28, 2026
• Canet-en-Roussillon, France
• Prelims at 9 am local (3 a.m. ET)/Finals 5:30 p.m. local (11:30 a.m. ET)
• LCM (50 Meters)
• Psych Sheets
• Meet Central
• Results

The 2nd stop of the Mare Nostrum Tour starts tomorrow in Canet-en-Roussillon, France. The first stop in Monaco saw a number of fast swims, and this stop is gearing up to be just as exciting.

Notable Entries

Here are a few notable swimmers to watch this week, as well as key events for the Canet stop. There are a number of World Championships finalists competing along with other big names, but we have narrowed it down to a few athletes for each gender.

Women’s Key Swimmers

• Siobhan Haughey (HGK) — Siobhan Haughey is continuing to make her return after an injury forced her to withdraw from the 2025 World Championships. She has swum a number of meets in 2025. Last week, she broke a Mare Nostrum meet record in the women’s 200 freestyle, and this week she is entered in the 50, 100, and 200 freestyle events.
• Marrit Steenbergen (NED) — Marrit Steenbergen has had a monster performance the last few months. At the 2025 SC European Championships, she broke 5 European Records, and she will be looking to carry that success through this long course season. She also swam the last stop and she set a new Mare Nostrum record in the 100 free with a personal best 52.13. She also won the 50 free. This week, she is entered in the 100 free, 50 back, and 200 IM.
• Simona Quadarella (ITA) — Distance freestyler Quadarella was another athlete who broke European Records in 2025. Last week’s stop in Monaco was more of a sprint focused meet, so while Quadarella picked up two bronze medals in the 400 IM and 400 freestyle events, she was not able to swim her bread-and-butter races. This stop, the women have the 800 freestyle, where Quadarella is the top seed by 14 seconds. She is also entered in the 200 free and 400 free.
• Agostina Hein (ARG) — Hein started making headlines last August when she had a stand out meet at the Junior Pan American Games, setting numerous records. In Monaco, she won the 400 IM and finished 2nd in the 400 freestyle behind Mare Nostrum record setter Erika Fairweather. In Canet, she is entered in the 400 free, 800 free, 200 IM and 400 IM.
• Vivien Jackl (HUN) — Another young superstar, Vivien Jackl had a few very strong meets in 2024. Last year, she switched coaches to swim under Shane Tusup, who famously coached Hungarian legend Katinka Hosszu. After a disappointing performance over the summer, she split from him and returned to her former coach Marta Kocsis. Last month, she set personal best times in the 800 free and 200 fly, but she did not swim in Monaco. At this stop, she is entered in the 200 free, 400 free, 200 back, and 200 fly events.

Men’s Key Swimmers

• Kristof Milak (HUN) — Milak’s training struggles have been reported widely since he first withdrew from the World Championships in 2023 saying he had “hit rock bottom”. He has not raced a World Championships meet since then, but he has already raced three meets in 2026, and is entered in his 4th in Canet. In Monaco, he set a new tour record in the 100 fly and won the 100 free. In Canet, he is entered in the 50 free, 100 free, 50 fly, and 100 fly.
• Ilya Kharun (USA*) — Another widely reported athlete, Ilya Kharun is listed with USA as his country code on the psych sheets, but he is still not fully eligible to represent the U.S. internationally after he changed his international representation last year from Canada. He is entered in the 50 free, 50 fly, 100 fly, and 200 fly.
• Pavel Samusenko (RUS) — Russian backstroker Pavel Samusenko is the top seed in the men’s 50 backstroke and the 2nd seed in the 100 backstroke to teammate Miron Lifintsev. Samusenko is coming off a world silver medal in the men’s 50 backstroke last year.
• Men’s Breaststrokers: While this is more of an “event to watch” rather than “swimmers to watch” there are a lot of very strong men’s breaststrokers at the meet in Canet this week and all of them will be battling for top spots heading into the European Championships this summer. Italy’s Ludovico Viberti, Russia’s Kirill Prigoda and Ivan Kozhakin, Belarusian Ilya Shymanovich, and Germany’s Melvin Imoudu are just a few of the top tier breaststrokers racing.

Races to Watch

On top of all the men’s breaststroke races, there are some swims in the next few days that are bound to be exciting.

• Women’s Sprint Freestyle: Some of the top women’s sprinters in the world are in Canet, and the 50 and 100 free in particular could produce some top times. Ducth athlete Milou Van Wijk is the top seed in the women’s 50 freestyle with her time of 24.23. She is three tenths ahead of France’s Melanie Henique and Canada’s Taylor Ruck, who are seeded in an exact tie of 24.53 for 2nd. After them, there are five other athletes seeded within three tenths of them including Siobhan Haughey. The 100 freestyle will feature Steenbergen and Haughey meeting again as the top two seeds with Van Wijk just behind them seeded 3rd.
• Women’s Breaststroke: While the men’s breaststroke races are likely to be exciting, the women’s races feature the 50 and 100 breaststroke world champions and the 200 breaststroke World Record holder. Benedetta Pilato is racing the 50 breaststroke as the only swimmer under 30 seconds in the event, though McKenzie Siroky, from the United States, and Anna Elendt will be serious challengers. Elendt is the top seed in the 100 breast, and has a comfortable cushion over Evgenia Chikunova, from Russia. In the 200 breast, Chikunova has the top seed by a little less than four seconds over Elendt, and she will be looking to pick up the top time in the world this year.
• Men’s Butterfly: Just like in Monaco, the men’s butterfly events are stacked with talent. Ilya Kharun will be racing and will be a big challenger for the gold in the 50 and 100. Milak is coming off the gold medal and meet record in the 100 fly, but he will be the 2nd seed behind Kharun’s 50.07 from the World Championships. In the 200 fly, Kharun is the top seed by two seconds over Gabriel Jett.

How to Watch

A pass to watch the remaining two stops of the series can be purchased for €6.99 ($8.13 USD), or you can purchase an individual meet pass for €2.99 ($3.48 USD). The stream will be available live and on demand worldwide, with the exception of Brazil, Japan, South Africa, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia, and Macedonia, where local broadcasters hold the rights:

• Brazil: Globo
• Bosnia: SportKlub
• Croatia: SportKlub
• Japan: News only (no live broadcast available)
• Macedonia: SportKlub
• Montenegro: SportKlub
• Serbia: SportKlub
• Slovenia: SportKlub
• South Africa: SuperSport”

Prize Money

Each stop has their own individaul prize money format. All the stops offer the same basic prize money per event. The winner earns €350, followed by €200 for second, and €100 for third, and a Mare Nostrum Record earns an additional €750.

In Canet, the top 20 athletes overall (combined men’s and women’s) will also earn prize money at the conclusion of the meet. The ranking will be determined based on the World Aquatics point system with only the ‘A’ finals swim considered in points calculations.

The top prize is €4,000 (≈$4600 USD) and the prizes will go down from there with the 20th place athlete earning €400 (≈$460 USD)