Siobhan Haughey Takes Series Lead After Mare Nostrum – Barcelona (PRIZE MONEY)

2023 MARE NOSTRUM TOUR – BARCELONA

• Wednesday, May 17th & Thursday, May 18th
•  Club Natació Sant Andreu, Barcelona, Spain
• LCM (50m)
• World Championships Qualifier
• Meet Central
• SwimSwam Preview
• Day 1 Prelims Recap/Day 1 Final Recap
• Day 2 Prelims Recap/Day 2 Final Recap
• Entries/Live Results
• Livestream

After the second of three stops on the 2023 Mare Nostrum Tour, Hong Kong’s Siobhan Haughey has emerged as the dominant force in the Mediterranean racing tour.

With a sweep of the 50, 100, and 200 freestyles mid-week, and the top female performance by FINA points, she earned an additional €1,650 ($1,785) in prize money in Spain.

The Spanish stop offered the same prize money for 1st (€350), 2nd (€200), and 3rd (€100) place finishes in each event as the prior stop in Canet, France did. While results here still contribute to the overall series-long “best FINA Points performance” standings, unlike Canet, there was no bonus for the top 20 FINA points finishers at this meet alone.

Instead, just the top male and female swimmer per gender, ranked by their single best swim, receives €600 each in bonus money.

Haughey earned that bonus from her 52.50 in the 100 freestyle, a world-leading time this year, and Ippei Watanabe earned it on the men’s side with a 2:08.48 in the 200 breast. That’s 1.6 seconds better than he was in Canet (where, incidentally, he also had the best points swim).

There were again no series or meet records in Barcelona, which keeps the prize money pretty clean.

Event Prizes:

• 1st place – €350
• 2nd place – €200
• 3rd place – €100

For the big prizes on offer at the end series, which is the €15,000 in overall series prize money, the front-runner on the women’s side Sarah Sjostrom of Sweden is out of the running after missing the Barcelona stop (though she still has the second-most prize money).

That leaves Siobhan Haughey with a pretty comfortable lead in the women’s battle, 64 points ahead of her next-closest competitor Marrit Steenbergen. Given the tear that the Hong Kong swimmer has been on over the last week, it would take something unbelievable from Steenbergen (who has been swimming well in her own right) to catch her for the €4,000 bonus.

On the men’s side, Ippei Watanabe also has a pretty comfortable lead after having the best FINA Points swim at each meet so far – including the breakthrough 2:08.48 in the 200 breaststroke in Barcelona. A lot of the Japanese swimmers were better in Barcelona than in Canet, so that leaves room for a crash later, but so far he’s the front-runner for the series win.

Keep in mind that the Monaco speed battles, which offer shootout-style events in each of the 50 meter strokes, will have a ton of prize money as well (and excitement, for that matter).

Best FINA Points Swims of the Series, per gender (sum of one event per swimmer per meet):

• Best FINA Points swim – €4,000
• 2nd best FINA Points swim – €2,000
• 3rd best FINA Points swim – €1,000
• 4th-best FINA Points swim – €500
• Full Standings After Barcelona (PDF)

Women’s Standings After Barcelona:

Men’s Standings After Barcelona:

Prize Money Earned in Barcelona

Overall Series Prize Money Through Barcelona