Mare Nostrum Monaco Finals: Day 1 Live Recap

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
• Day 1 Prelims
• Meet Preview

Many of the swimmers we saw competing at the European Championships in Budapest are back in the pool in Monaco, including Katinka Hosszu, Yuliya Efimova and Charlotte Bonnet.

Arno Kamminga will kick off this evening’s action in Monaco in the 200m breaststroke as he leads the field with a morning swim time of 2:12.18.

Hungary’s Iron Lady raced the 200 free, 200 back and 100 fly earlier in the day and maintains her reputation as one of the swimmers with the most stacked schedules.

Men’s 200 Breast

As expected, Kamminga stormed to a comfortable win in this event with a time of 2:10.39. The 24-year-old clocked a time of 2:07.35 while racing in Budapest last week which earned him a silver medal there. His lifetime best stands at 2:06.85 which he set while racing in Rotterdam last December.

Second place was filled by Miguel-Alejandro De Lara Ojeda of Mexico (2:12.53). The 26-year-old dropped his prelims time of 2:25.23 considerably to nab second place here.

Third place went to fellow Dutchman Arjan Knipping who stopped the clock in 2:15.00. Knipping is a medley specialist and holds the Dutch national records in the 200 and 400 medley.

Women’s 100 Breast

Top seed in the three women’s breaststroke events Yuliya Efimova won the first women’s breaststroke event of the meet with a time of 1:07.08 in the 100m edition.

The Russian breaststroke specialist was a full second ahead of Mexico’s Byanca Rodriguez Villanueva who holds a personal best time of 1:07.74 from the 2019 Pan American Games.

Finland’s breaststroke strength is largely contributed to by Jenna Laukkanen who finished in 3rd spot here.

Men’s 100 Free

A splash and dash men’s 100 free saw Maxime Grousset being the only man to break the 49-second mark and win the event in a time of 48.28. Grousset came extremely close to dipping under that mark this morning but was just off with 49.04.

He easily took the win here as his nearest competitor was more than a second behind with 49.44 – that time clocked by fellow Frenchman Charles Rihoux.

Trinidad & Tobago’s Dylan Carter took the third spot (49.98), completing the top three finishers and the list of men who broke the 50-second mark.

Women’s 200 Free

The tightly contested race we expected in the women’s 200 free was not to be as the Frenchwoman, Charlotte Bonnet, was in a league of her own. The freestyle specialist clocked a time of 1:58.38, finishing almost two seconds ahead of her nearest competitor Katinka Hosszu.

Hosszu, who had a heavy three-event schedule today, was off her prelims time of 1:59.7- here with 2:00.12. She did, however, do enough to hold off her Hungarian teammate Evelyn Verraszto who touched behind her in 2:00.56.

Men’s 200 Fly

After cruising this morning’s prelims swim, Chad le Clos turned up the heat here in the 200 fly – winning the event in 1:56.88.

The Olympic gold medallist had a tough contest from Kregor Zirk, the Estonian swimmers touching just behind him in 1:57.45 and improving on his prelims time of 2:00.34.

The podium finishes were completed by Logan Fontaine who clocked 2:02.02 The youngster shaved 0.06 off his former personal best in doing so.

Women’s 100 Fly

Not long after swimming the 200 free, Hosszu was back on top in the 100 fly with a winning time of 1:00.62. That takes down her morning time by almost a second.

Frenchwoman and first seed heading into the final Mika Heideyer also dipped under the 61-second mark with her time of 1:00.91. Completing the 1-2-3 finishers was Laura Lahtinen of Finland (1:01.08).

Men’s 100 Back

Yohann Ndoya Brouard won the men’s 100 back in comfortable fashion here and bested his prelims time of 55.29 by almost two seconds in the process.

The 20-year-old is fresh from winning a bronze medal in this event in Budapest which he did tied with Greece’s Apostolos Christou in 52.97. He got down close to that time here with 53.53.

Behind him was Omar Pinzon of Colombia with 54.76 who easily took second place ahead of Ladislas Salczer (56.65).

Women’s 200 Back

Frenchwoman Fantine Lesaffre showed her class in this event, winning in 2:14.99. She was well ahead of the rest of the field, pushing hard on the 3rd 50 and backing it up with a strong second 100 meters.

Celia Pulido Ortiz held the pace for the first 100 and ultimately finished second behind Lesaffre in 2:18.71. She just edged out Louise Lefebvre who touched in 2:18.86.

Men’s 200 IM

A four-man final in the men’s 200 IM saw Jeremy Desplanches taking the win in 1:58.46. The Swiss swimmer recently won a silver medal in this event while racing in Budapest at the European Championships.

Though he was roughly two seconds off his silver medal-winning time here, he took a chunk of his earlier prelims time of 2:01.73.

Behind him was Dutchman Arjan Knipping who earlier raced the 200 breast. He improved on his third-place finish in that event to finish second here with 2:01.08. Third went to Teemu Vuorela in 2:05.47.