2021 Mare Nostrum Canet – Day 2 Prelims Recap

MARE NOSTRUM SERIES – CANET

• June 1-2, 2021
• Centre de Natation Arlette Franco, Canet-en-Roussillon, France
• Long Course Meters (50 meters)
• Results

The 2021 Mare Nostrum tour continues with the second and final day of competition at Canet-en-Roussilon in France. Canet is the second of three stops and the tour will conclude this weekend (June 5 & 6) in Barcelona.

The first day of action saw the competitive return of Swedish stars Sarah Sjostrom and Therese Alshammar to the pool. Kregor Zirk continues to drop time and broke the Estonian national record in the 200 freestyle last night for the fourth time in ten weeks.

Sjostrom, who has been focusing just on freestyle since injuring her elbow in February, swam her first competitive 100 free and finished in 54.90. This qualifiers her second behind Pernille Blume at 54.61. Blume won the 50 free last night where Sjostrom finished third. This was Sjostrom’s first 100 free since January 2020 where she swam 53.02; she holds the world record in the event at 51.71.

Alshammar finished in 16th in the 100 free at 57.82, 4+ seconds off her best of 53.58 from 2009.

Katinka Hosszu, who won two of three events last night, swam another packed schedule this morning: the 400 freestyle, the 200 butterfly, and the 400 IM. Hosszu was fourth in the 400 free at 4:18.25, 3+ seconds behind top qualifier Jimena Perez  at 4:18.24. She is sitting as the fourth seed (out of five swimmers) in the 200 fly at 2:21.27 where Ana Monteiro leads the way at 2:12.64. Hosszu, the world record holder in the 400 IM, is second after prelims at 4:50.25, just behind top qualifier Africa Zamarano Sanz at 4:50.02.

Yulia Efimova, winner of the 100 breaststroke last night, is the top qualifier in the 50 breaststroke at 31.17. Efimova is in third place in the 200 breaststroke at 2:28.22. The 200 breaststroke has five swimmers within just over a second of each other and should be a competitive race tonight: Kristyna Horska at 2:27.70, Jessica Vall Montero at 2:27.76, Efimova, Marina Garcia Urzainqui at 2:28.27, and Stina Colleou at 2:28.78.

Andrey Govorov leads a tight field in the 50 butterfly at 24.03. Close on his heels are Meiron-Amir Cheruti at 24.13 and Chad le Clos at 24.23.

Similarly to the 50 fly, the men’s 200 fly has three swimmers within half a second of each other. Clement Secchi is the top qualifier at 2:00.51 followed by Alexei Sancov at 2:00.84, and le Clos at 2:00.96.

Le Clos and Bruno Fratus, co-winner of the 50 freestyle yesterday, scratched the 100 free. Cristian Quintero is the top qualifier at 49.21.

Hugo Gonzalez leads the field in the 200 IM by over four seconds with a prelims swim of 2:00.73, nearly four seconds behind the 1:56.76 he swam a few weeks ago at the European Championships.

Zirk is the third seed in tonight’s 800 freestyle at 7:55.05. Top seed is Ahmed-Ayoub Hafnaoui at 7:49.15.