2023 MARE NOSTRUM TOUR – BARCELONA
- Wednesday, May 17th & Thursday, May 18th
- Club Natació Sant Andreu, Barcelona, Spain
- LCM (50m)
- World Championships Qualifier
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- Day 1 Prelims Recap
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Anastasia Gorbenko reset her best time in the 200 IM for the first time in two years on Day 1 of the Mare Nostrum Tour stop in Barcelona, breaking the Israeli Record in a time of 2:09.47.
Gorbenko’s performance knocks off her previous National Record of 2:09.99, set at the 2020 European Championships (held in May 2021) when she won gold in a razor-thin battle with Great Britain’s Abbie Wood (2:10.03) and Hungarian Katinka Hosszu (2:10.12).
Since that European Championship victory in 2021, Gorbenko has been 2:10 on nine separate occasions, but didn’t get back into 2:09 territory until tonight’s final.
The 19-year-old won the event over Canadian Mary-Sophie Harvey (2:10.63) and the Netherlands’ Marrit Steenbergen (2:10.78), falling short of Hosszu’s Barcelona (2:09.07) and overall Mare Nostrum Tour (2:08.49) records.
Split Comparison
| Gorbenko, May 2021 | Gorbenko, May 2023 |
| 28.26 | 28.14 |
| 1:00.88 (32.62) | 1:01.24 (33.10) |
| 1:38.66 (37.78) | 1:38.94 (37.70) |
| 2:09.99 (31.33) | 2:09.47 (30.53) |
Gorbenko, who came into the competition with a season-best time of 2:11.23 set at the Pro Swim Series stop in Westmont last month, moves into a tie for eighth in the world this season.
She raced in the 200 IM at the opening leg of the Mare Nostrum Tour in Canet, but was disqualified in the prelims. She went on to win the women’s 100 back (1:00.50) and place fourth in the 50 breast (30.74).
2022-2023 LCM Women 200 IM
McIntosh
2:06.89 WJR
| 2 | Kate Douglass | USA | 2:07.09 | 07/01 |
| 3 | Kaylee McKeown | AUS | 2:07.19 | 05/12 |
| 4 | Alex Walsh | USA | 2:07.89 | 07/01 |
| 5 | Yu Yiting | CHN | 2:08.34 | 05/02 |
| 6 | Regan Smith | USA | 2:08.48 | 06/02 |
| 7 | Sydney Pickrem | CAN | 2:08.61 | 03/30 |
| 8 | Jenna Forrester | AUS | 2:08.98 | 07/24 |
| 9 | Marrit Steenbergen | NED | 2:09.16 | 04/08 |
Coming off her breakout European title two years ago, Gorbenko placed 10th in the 200 IM at the Tokyo Olympics, and then was fifth in the event at the 2022 World Championships.
She then followed up by earning a repeat European title in the 200 IM last summer, clocking 2:10.92 to edge out Steenbergen (2:11.14).
An incredibly versatile swimmer, Gorbenko was also an Olympic finalist in the 100 back in Tokyo, placing eighth, and won a pair of short course world titles in the 50 breaststroke and 100 IM in Abu Dhabi in 2021.
Gorbenko also placed sixth in the 100 breast (1:07.28) on Day 1 in Barcelona, and is entered in the 50 breast and 400 IM on Day 2.
YAY
Nice work on a PR on the MN – 200 medley is no joke event either