Hosszu Takes On A Triple To Kick Off Mare Nostrum Monaco

2021 MARE NOSTRUM TOUR – MONACO

• Saturday, May 29th & Sunday, May 30th
• Swimming Pool Prince Albert II
• LCM (50m)
• Heats at 9 am local/finals at 5 pm local
• Entries
• Results

The first stop of the 2021 Mare Nostrum Tour got underway today in Monaco, with many of the same swimmers we saw in Budapest at the just-concluded European Championships continuing on in their pre-Tokyo racing here.

One such swimmer was Russia’s Yuliya Efimova, the 29-year-old who notched two bronze medals at Euros, one in the 50m breast and one in the 200m breast. Here in Monaco, Efimova topped the women’s 100m breaststroke field, representing one of three swimmers to delve into sub-1:10 territory on the morning.

Efimova led the pack in 1:08.47 while Mexico’s Byanca Villanueva produced a mark of 1:08.69 to flank the Russian. Finnish racer Jenna Laukkanen is also in the mix, logging 1:09.94 this morning.

The men’s breaststroke event here on day 1 was the 200m distance, with Dutch ace Arno Kamminga posting a casual-looking 2:12.18 as the top seed. 24-year-old Kamminga hit a super speedy time of 2:07.35 in Budapest to grab the 200m breast silver behind winner Anton Chupkov of Russia (2:06.99).

Of note, Germany’s Marco Koch was originally supposed to race this 2breast but did not compete. There are German National Championships taking place next weekend, however.

A stacked field of viable competitors comprised the men’s 100m freestyle race, with a trio of Frenchmen leading the pack after prelims.

Maxime Grousset nearly broke 49 seconds already, posting a morning swim of 49.04 to hold a .25 advantage over countryman Clement Mignon‘s time of 49.29. Charles Rihoux was next in line, collecting an AM time of 49.36.

Also making the final was Trinidad & Tobago’s Dylan Carter (49.79), Frances’ Jordan Pothain (49.87) and the newly-minted European Champion in the 50m free, Ari Pekka Liukkonen of Finland (50.25).

We also saw Italian veteran Luca Dotto clear 6th place out of the heats in 50.20 while out-of-retirement Filippo Magnini missed the A-final, placing 12th in 51.02.

Two men were in the 55-second zone in this morning’s 100m backstroke, with Yohann Ndoye Brouard of France and Omar Pinzon of Colombia previewing a potential battle for tonight.

Brouard, the 20-year-old who tied Greece’s Apostolos Christou for 100m back bronze in Budapest last week, touched in 55.29 this morning. That led Pinzon’s 55.68, with the Colombian national record holder owning a lifetime best of 54.88 in this event.

Additional Notes:

• It looks to be a tight race brewing in the women’s 200m free, with Hungarian Katinka Hosszu and French speedster Charlotte Bonnet separated by just half a second. The pair notched the only times under the 2:00 barrier this morning, with the former logging 1:59.29 to the latter’s 1:59.70.
• Hosszu also raced the women’s 100m fly, posting the 2nd fastest time of the morning in 1:01.39. That was just .06 shy of leader Mika Heideyer of France who produced 1:01.33 to land lane 4 for tonight’s final.
• The Iron Lady also took on the women’s 200m back later on in the session. Knowing with just 7 competitors she would make the final, Hosszu posted an energy-conserving swim of 2:26.64 in her 3rd performance of the morning.
• Estonia’s national record holder Kregor Zirk punched a moring mark of 2:00.34 to lead the men’s 200m fly field.
• Out of just a 7-person field, Fantine Lesaffre of France nailed the quickest 200m back time for the women, touching in 2:12.94. Of note, Dutch ace Kira Toussaint was set to race but was absent.
• Dutch swimmer Arjan Knipping put up a time of 2:01.35 to lead Jeremy Desplanches in the men’s 200m IM. Swiss swimmer Desplanches notched 2:01.73 after having just won the European Championships silver in this event.