Katinka Hosszu Goes Sub-Minute in 100 Back Prelims in Monaco

2016 MARE NOSTRUM TOUR – MONACO

• June 4th-5th, 2016
• Monte Carlo, Monaco
• Prelims: 9 am local (3 am EST)  Finals: 5 pm local (11 am EST)
• Competition Schedule
• Live Results

In the Sunday morning (day 2) preliminary rounds of the 2016 Mare Nostrum circuit’s first stop in Monaco, Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu swam under 1 minute in the 100 backstroke for the 24th time in her career.

Her time in prelims was a 59.94, which put her ahead of a deep field that included Zimbabwean Kirsty Coventry (1:01.71) as the 2nd qualifier into finals, as well as Russia’s best Anastasia Fesikova (1:01.79) as the 3rd qualifier.

Even at this early stage of the season, there’s at least 4 swimmers capable of tipping the minute mark in finals, so Hosszu will have to hit number 25 to win this event on Sunday evening.

That will be another crowded session for the Hungarian, as she’s also the top qualifier in the 200 IM (2:10.14) and 200 fly (2:11.13), though she’s not participating in the meet’s stroke-50 shootout events, so that should keep her schedule manageable.

There were many prestigious finishers atop the morning leaderboards, but without much pressure to squeeze through to finals, the times didn’t match the name value. Other top qualifiers include:

• Steffen Deibler of Germany leading the 100 fly in 52.81, with South Africa’s Chad le Clos, the defending World Champion, qualifying 3rd in 53.70.
• The German men combined for 4 top seeds on the day. In addition to Deibler, Jan Phillip Glania led the 200 back easily in 2:00.48; 17-year old Johannes Hintze led the men’s 400 IM in 4:20.74; and World Record holder Paul Biedermann led the 200 free in 1:47.95. Of those three, Biedermann will face the best field, with Gergo Kis, Myles Brown, and Chad le Clos among those in the 200 free final.
• France’s Charlotte Bonnet led the women’s 100 free prelims in 54.97. Belarus’ Aleksandra Herasimenia, a former World Champion in this event (and 10 years Bonnet’s senior) qualified 2nd in 55.60.
• Canadian Kierra Smith cruised through to the top seed in the women’s 200 breaststroke in 2:30.31. Spaniard Marina Garcia led halfway, then fell back to a 2:32.02 for the 2nd spot in tonight’s final.
• Jarred Crous of South Africa led the men’s 100 breaststroke prelims in 1:01.68. He’s qualified to swim at the Olympic Games for his home country, but in the 200 breaststroke. Germany’s Mark Koch (1:02.59) are among the swimmers who follow Crous into the final.