Mare Nostrum Digest: Top 10 Performances Of The 2023 Tour

The 2023 Mare Nostrum Tour saw its final stop come to a close in Monaco yesterday with the meet wrapping up a trio of world-class competitions.

We saw a handful of individual meet records and even overall Mare Nostrum records bite the dust over the course of the past couple of weeks as swimmers vied not only for medals but also for World Championships and Paris 2024 Olympic Games qualifying times.

In case you missed any of the action, here’s a round-up of my top 10 performances from the Tour.

#1 Sarah Sjostrom‘s 24.89 50m Fly (Monaco)

Sweden’s multi-Olympic medalist Sarah Sjostrom did major damage in the women’s 50m fly in Monaco.

The 50m sprints of each discipline were conducted in a series of rounds, with the preliminary race, along with rounds 2 and 3 taking place on day one while the final two battles were conducted on day two.

Sjostrom registered monster swims across all 5 rounds, nearly completing a masterful decrescendo en route to her frightening 24.89 which garnered her gold.

Round 1 – 25.58
Round 2 – 25.25
Round 3 – 25.28
Round 4 – 25.07
Round 5 – 24.89

Sjostrom has held the 50m fly World Record since clocking a time of 24.43 in 2014. She remains the only woman in history to have ever dipped under the 25-second barrier in this event and has recorded the top 25 times in history.

Sjostrom’s last 24-point 50m fly came at the 2022 World Championships where she put up 24.95 to claim gold in Budapest. Remarkably, her time of 24.89 beat out that gold medal-worthy effort and ranks as the 7th swiftest performance in history.

#2 Siobhan Haughey‘s 52.50 100m Free (Barcelona)

Hong Kong’s two-time Olympic silver medalist Siobhan Haughey put her freestyle finesse on full display over the course of the 3 meets.

Her winning effort in the women’s 100m freestyle in Barcelona was especially impressive, with her time of 52.50 clinching the gold by nearly one full second. The time represented a new in-season best for the star who also broke the Hong Kong national record in the 50m free on day one in Canet (24.56).

The former University of Michigan Wolverine’s 52.50 time checked in as her 3rd-fastest ever, sitting only behind the 52.40 she produced in the semi-finals and the 52.27 she logged for silver at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.

She now ranks #1 in the world on the season.

#3 Sarah Sjostrom‘s 23.82 50m Free (Monaco)

Sjostrom also put on a show in the women’s 50m free where she conquered all 5 rounds for gold.

Sjostrom fired off a time of 23.82 in the 4th round to put up the 7th fastest 50m free performance of her prolific career. It established a new Mare Nostrum Tour Record, overtaking the previous mark of 23.85 she put on the books in 2017.

Sjostrom’s 23.82 Mare Nostrum Record swim here represents the 11th-swiftest time ever produced and would have beat her own silver medal time from the Tokyo Olympics behind champion Emma McKeon‘s 23.81 Olympic Record.

Sjostom remains ranked #1 in this women’s 50m free event on the season.

#4 Lara van Niekerk‘s 29.75 50m Breast (Monaco)

Lost in the Sjostrom shuffle on the final day in Monaco was a powerful performance by South Africa’s Lara van Niekerk in the women’s 50m breast.

19-year-old van Niekerk was hungry throughout all 5 rounds of the event, posting a stellar series of times as follows:

Round 1 – 30.63
Round 2 – 30.45
Round 3 – 30.21
Round 4 – 29.89
Round 5 – 29.75

Her round 4 effort of 29.89 broke the Monaco stop record while her mark of 29.75 which earned gold broke the overall Mare Nostrum Tour record. That mark was set by Lithuanian Olympic champion Ruta Meilutyte 8 years ago in 2015.

Van Niekerk’s 29.75 gold medal-worthy time checks in as a season-best, lowering her 29.78 logged at April’s national championships. Her time also fell only .03 shy of her lifetime best and South African standard of 29.72 produced in April of 2022.

#5 Rikako Ikee‘s 25.89 50m Fly Bronze (Canet)

Rikako Ikee of Japan did not put up a best time nor win gold on the Tour; however, the 22-year-old did accomplish a heroic feat while competing at the first stop in Canet.

Racing in the women’s 50m fly, Ikee placed third in a time of 25.89. Although the outing was off her season-best of 25.59 produced last month, Ikee’s result represented her first time making an international podium since returning to the pool after her battle with leukemia.

Ikee has been racing domestically over the past 2+ years, taking part in her first comeback meet of the Tokyo Special Swimming Tournament in August 2020. Her participation came after spending nearly the entire year of 2019 in the hospital undergoing intense treatments.

She continued gaining strength both in and out of the pool, remarkably making Japan’s Olympic team for the postponed 2020 Games. Ikee ultimately helped the women’s 4x100m free and mixed medley relays place 9th, as well as the women’s 4x100m medley relay finish 8th at the Tokyo Games.

Ikee wound up taking most of 2022 off of racing, forgoing last year’s World Championships in Budapest as well as the Short Course World Championships in Melbourne.

The freestyle and butterfly specialist did race at last month’s Japan Championships where she claimed an impressive four individual titles across the 50m/100m fly and 50m/100m free. As a result, she was named to her nation’s roster for this summer’s World Championships set to take place on her home soil this July.

#6 Tomoru Honda‘s 1:54.22 200 Fly (Monaco)

Japanese Olympic silver medalist Tomoru Honda took full advantage of Hungarian Kristof Milak not competing at the Monaco stop despite the World Record holder having been entered

On day one of the competition. Honda crushed a winning 200m fly time of 1:54.22. Honda’s performance beat out his Canet performance by nearly a second, where Honda took the event at that first stop in 1:55.09.

His season-best remains at the head-turning 1:52.70 from last December’s Japan Open; however, his time from the Tour would have placed 4th at the 2022 World Championships where he took 3rd in 1:53.61 and would have brought home the bronze from the 2020 Olympic Games.

#7 Ian Ho‘s 21.96 50m Free (Monaco)

Hong Kong’s Ian Ho remains his nation’s only swimmer to have ever delved under the 22-second barrier in the men’s 50m freestyle.

The 26-year-old out of Virginia Tech first got into 21-second territory in June of 2021 where he clinched the national title in a mark of 21.97. He then took things down even further, producing a time of 21.86 at this year’s Festival of Sport this past April.

Although that 21.86 remains the Hong Kong national record, Ho provided it wasn’t a fluke, clocking a result of 21.96 in round 3 of the knockout competition of the 50m free in Monaco.

Ho followed with a slower time of 22.40 to be eliminated after round 4 but the ace continues to represent his continent well in the world rankings. Ho, Singapore’s Jonathan Tan (21.91) and Japan’s Shinri Shioura (21.99) are the only 3 swimmers from Asia who have been under 22 seconds this season.

#8 Lydia Jacoby‘s 1:05.84 100m Breast (Barcelona)

At the 2nd stop in Barcelona, reigning Olympic champion Lydia Jacoby of the United States logged her fastest 100m breaststroke outing since Tokyo.

She topped the Barcelona podium in 1:05.84 as the 6th swiftest performance of her career to beat out runner-up Martina Carraro of Italy (1:06.87) and van Niekerk (1:07.08).

Jacoby’s Top 100 Breast Times:

• 1:04.95, 2020 Tokyo Olympics (Finals)
• 1:05.28, 2020 Olympic Trials (Finals)
• 1:05.52, 2020 Tokyo Olympics (Prelims)
• 1:05.71, 2020 Olympic Trials (Semifinals)
• 1:05.72, 2020 Tokyo Olympics (Semifinals)
• 1:05.84, 2023 Mare Nostrum (Finals)

Jacoby missed her nation’s World Championships roster last year by only .09, hitting a time of 1:06.21 at Trials.

She had already been quicker than that this season with a result of 1:06.09 clocked at the Pro Swim Series in Westmont last month.

Jacoby’s swim 1:05.84 now ranks her 3rd in the world this season.

#9 Tomoyuki Matsushita‘s 4:12.42 400m IM (Barcelona)

Japan’s newest member of its 400m IM posse is 17-year-old Tomoyuki Matsushita, who has helped fill the void left by powerhouse Kosuke Hagino’s retirement.

Tomoyuki Matsushita started his Mare Nostrum Tour on the subdued side, putting up a time of 4:17.92 in Canet to bag bronze.

However, he moved things rapidly forward with a much swifter result of 4:12.42 for gold in Barcelona and doubled up with a podium-topping mark of 4:12.53 in Monaco.

The teen’s lifetime best remains at the 4:12:20 he registered past January while competing at the South Australian State Championships to rank as Japan’s 8th fastest man ever.

The fact that he was already within range of his PB is highly encouraging and signals a complete turnaround from his disappointing performance at the 2023 Japan Swim this past April. At that World Championships qualifier, the teen finished 24th in a lackluster 4:24.17.

#10 Agostina Hein‘s 4:09.94 400m Free (Monaco)

Argentina has a new distance freestyle face in town and her name is Agostina Hein.

Hein, who only turned 15 just last month, held her own against some top-tier talent in one of the first senior-level international meet series of her career.

Hein’s highlight came at the final stop in Monaco where the budding star established a huge new personal best in the 400m free. Hein touched in a mark of 4:09.94 to get under the 4:10 barrier for her first time ever, taking gold in the process.

The teen set up her swim first by snagging silver in Canet with a time of 4:10.68. That outing already obliterated the 4:16.03 she logged for 5th place at the 2022 World Junior Championships, as well as the 4:20.56 she produced at the Pro Swim Series in Fort Lauderdale.

Hein, again at just 15, is now Argentina’s #2 performer all-time in this event.