Big day for Danish women, Japanese men to close out Canet’s Mare Nostrum stop

The second of the Mare Nostrum circuit’s three stops wrapped up Thursday in Canet-en-Roussillon, France, and it was a dominating effort for the women of Denmark and the men of Japan.

The Danish ladies won 5 total races on day 2 from four different swimmers, with Rikke Moller Pederson claiming the 50 and 200 breaststrokes to complete her sweep of the stroke in Canet. Meanwhile the Japanese men went 1-2 in a trio of races, capping that run off with a 200 IM headlined by Daiya Seto‘s jump to #2 in the world rankings.

CANET-EN-ROUSSILLON STOP – MARE NOSTRUM

• Live results
• Money-earners update
• Mare Nostrum website
• Full meet preview

Men’s 50 Breast

What looked to be a tight battle between British teammates coming out of prelims turned into a rout. Adam Peaty thoroughly dominated the night’s first event, going 27.19 to blow away the 50 breast field. Peaty, second in the 100 breast, now moves to #4 in our 2014 World Ranks:

Russia’s Andrey Nikolaev just touched out Slovenia and former California star Damir Dugonjic 27.52 to 27.54 for second place. Behind them was Peaty’s teammate Ross Murdoch, who went 27.75 a day after winning the 100 in a touchout.

Women’s 50 Breast

Rikke Moller Pedersen made the women’s race as lopsided as the men’s was. The Danish powerhouse rolled a 31.00 to top the field by half a second, continuing a sweep of the breaststroke events in Canet.

SwimMAC’s Katie Meili took home second place, going 31.54 to beat out a couple of close competitors. Israeli Amit Ivry was just a few hundredths back at 31.58, while Great Britain’s Carrie Scott went 31.77 for fourth.

American Melanie Margalis also got under 32, putting up a 31.92 that garnered her 5th place.

Men’s 50 Fly

Poland’s Konrad Czerniak barely snuck into the championship final this morning, taking 6th place and sitting just .06 out of 9th. He made the finals swim count, though, cutting well over half a second to shock the field from an outside lane. His 23.59 was just enough to eke out Spain’s Rafael Munoz Perez, who went 23.65.

Top-seeded Brit Ben Proud fell to third place, still cutting a few tenths off his prelims swim to go 23.72. SwimMAC’s Cullen Jones was the last man under 24, going 23.93 for fourth place.

Women’s 50 Fly

Jeanette Ottesen won a pair of races Wednesday night, and she picked up right where she left off on Thursday. Ottesen smashed the 50 fly field with a 25.49, just .08 off her world-leading season best.

Over a half-second back was Bahamian Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace, competing with the American SwimMAC club, and Brit Francesca Halsall, each of whom went 26.00 to tie for runner-up honors.

Swedish veteran Therese Alshammer picked up fourth place in 26.06. At 36 years old, Alshammer was the oldest swimmer in the field by 10 years.

Women’s 400 Free

The home squad continues to put up some big swims in their native element. France’s Camille Muffat won her second race of the week, going 4:04.58 to touch out Brit Jazz Carlin by a few tenths. Muffat, also the 200 free champ in Canet, moves up to 5th in the world for 2014, and just .02 back of a share of third place overall.

Carlin’s 4:04.82 is just a couple tenths off her season-best, which ranked 5th prior to the meet, but now moves down to number 6.

Those two checked out from the field significantly. Third place went to France’s Coralie Balmy at 4:07.68, with Spain’s Melanie Costa Schmid taking fourth at 4:08.29. South Africa’s Karin Prinsloo, who’s been having a very solid meet so far, went 4:08.69 to finish just behind.

Men’s 100 Back

We’ve noted often during the Mare Nostrum run how dominant Ryosuke Irie is mid-season, and he lived up to that reputation in the 100 back. Irie crushed the field by over a full second, going 53.24 for yet another win on his Mare Nostrum resume. The current money-list leader also won the 200 last night, and has swept the two longer backstroke distances at both Mare Nostrum circuit stops.

His fellow Japanese swimmer Junya Koga went 54.29 to take second place, with American Ryan Murphy third in 54.84.

Russia’s Nikita Ulyanov took fourth in 55.16, and Polish former European Champ Radoslaw Kawecki nabbed fifth with a 55.28.

Women’s 100 Back

The third Danish stroke star made her big splash in the backstroke – Mie Nielsen went 59.85 to dominate the women’s 100 back. Nielsen is still about half a second off of her season-best, but had enough to win this race by well over a second, as second-place Georgia Davies of Great Britain was back at 1:00.92. That makes three Danish swimmers (Nielsen, Moller Pedersen and Ottesen) to handily dominate their respective strokes on day 2 in Canet.

Young Russian Daria Ustinova put together a 1:00.93, just a single one-hundredth back of Davies for second. From there, the field dropped off to Brazil’s Etiene Medeiros at 1:01.43 and Icelandic Olympian Eyglo Osk Gustafsdottir at 1:01.97.

Men’s 200 Breast

Great Britain went 1-2 in the men’s 100 breast Wednesday, and Japan responded with a 1-2 of its own in tonight’s 200. Yasuhiro Koseki paced the field, coming in at 2:09.77. That time will rank him 7th in the world for 2014, just one spot behind his countryman Kazuki Kohinata, who took second here with a 2:10.30.

Russia’s Alexander Palatov took third place, going 2:11.87, and was the only one relatively close to the Japanese duo. 50 breast winner Adam Peaty went 2:12.93 in taking fourth, and Luxembourg’s Laurent Carnol was fifth with a 2:13.28.

Women’s 200 Breast

Rikke Moller Pedersen made it 3-for-3 in breaststroke swims in Canet, blasting her way to a 200 breast victory. Moller Pedersen was just a few hundredths off her already-world-leading time and wholly dominated this race. Her 2:19.67 beat Japan’s Kanako Watanabe (Moller Pedersen’s biggest rival at the Monaco meet) by four and a half seconds.

Watanabe went 2:24.14 for second place, leading in the second wave of athletes. Spain got a third place from Jessica Vall (2:25.99) and a fifth from Marina Garcia (2:26.62), while Great Britain’s Molly Renshaw came in just between the Spanish duo at 2:26.40.

Men’s 100 Free

Once again, Nathan Adrian played his cards close to the vest in prelims only to breakout in the A final. Adrian popped off a 48.43 to win the 100 free after coming in as the third seed. He topped #1-seed Hanser Garcia Hernandez by three tenths as Garcia went 48.77.

Poland’s Konrad Czerniak, coming off his 50 fly win, took third-place prize money, going 49.07. Russia’s Oleg Tikhobaev was in the hunt for third, going 49.51 for fourth, and fifth place went to Cal’s Anthony Ervin, who had to win a swim-off just to get a lane here.

Women’s 100 Free

As a collective women’s squad, Denmark continued to swim red-hot in Canet, as Pernille Blume powered to a 100 free win in 53.86. That’s the 5th event to go to the Danes, and all 4 winners came in different strokes, setting up what looks like a pretty formidable national medley relay team.

Blume won by a half second over Russia’s Veronika Popova (54.24), with Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace representing the Bahamas in third (54.38). Just a hundredth back of prize money was Great Britain’s Francesca Halsall at 54.39.

American vet Natalie Coughlin took fourth, riding in at 54.88, and South African Karin Prinsloo took home fifth at 55.06.

Men’s 200 IM

Japan took home another big 1-2 finish in the men’s IM race, and it was headlined by Daiya Seto. Seto, who entered the race sitting 5th in the world for the year, slashed more time off his season-best to go a 1:57.32 that now ranks him 2nd in the world for 2014, behind only his countryman Kosuke Hagino.

Backstroke star Ryosuke Irie was second, going 1:59.36 to complete the third Japanese sweep of the day.

Hungary’s Daniel Verraszto came in just behind, sitting right along the two-minute barrier at 2:00.02. The top American was Cal’s Josh Prenot, who took fifth back at 2:00.56.

Japan loaded a third man into the top 6 as Hiromasa Fujimori went 2:00.80 for sixth place. Fujimori’s season-best is now 4th in the world after Seto’s big swim.

Women’s 400 IM

Great Britain’s Aimee Willmott paced the women’s IM, which today was the longer 400-meter distance. Willmott went 4:35.41, just a few seconds off her 2014 best, but still enough to beat the field by almost three.

Second was Wednesday’s 200 IM winner Sakiko Simizu of Japan. Simizu went 4:38.20 for solid runner-up honors.

Spain’s Beatriz Gomez Cortes took the third place prize with a 4:40.96 before Hungary stacked up back-to-back finishes. Zsuzsanna Jakobos was 4:41.15 for fourth and Evelyn Verraszto 4:43.35 for fifth representing Hugary’s biggest threats with all-world star Katinka Hosszu not in attendance.

Men’s 200 Fly

Already ranked fourth in the world for 2014, Polish former World Champ Pawel Korzeniowski blew past the competition for a big 200 fly win of 1:56.12. Korzeniowski, a world champ all the way back in 2005, showed plenty of speed and endurance at age 28, holding off a charge from Russian Alexander Kudashev. Kudashev finished second in 1:56.68.

Denmark’s Victor Bregner Bromer wound up third, going 1:57.53. Then things tightened up, with four men all going 1:59s. Britain’s Roberto Pavoni led that group with a 1:59.11. Behind him were Carlos Peralta Gallego (1:59.46), ASU collegian and Romanian national Alexandru Coci (1:59.71) and GBR’s Cameron Brodie (1:59.78). Tom Shields rounded out the heat at 2:00.25.

Women’s 200 Fly

Recent Texas A&M grad Cammile Adams won the day’s final event, showing off her new SwimMAC colors with a 2:08.54. That easily paced the field, as Brit Alys Thomas took second back at 2:10.12.

Shuang Li picked up China’s highest finish of the meet with a 2:10.39 good for third, and Elena Sheridan of Great Britain took fourth with a 2:10.96.

Swimming in their second-straight finals were Zsuzsanna Jakobos and Aimee Willmott, fresh off that 400 IM. Jakobos went 2:12.04 for fifth, Willmott 2:12.16 for fifth.

The Mare Nostrum series now moves to Barcelona, Spain, where it will wrap up this Saturday and Sunday.