11TH MEDITERRANEAN OPEN (FRA)
- Saturday, March 11th – Sunday, March 12th
- Marseille, France
- LCM (50m)
- Entries/Results
On the first day of the Mediterranean Open, Sarah Sjostrom blasted a world-leading 50 fly time this season, winning the race in 25.25. She takes over the top time from the Netherlands’ Maaike de Waard, who posted 25.64 back in December 2022 at the Rotterdam Qualification Meet.
Let’s take a minute to put this swim and the gap that Sjostrom, the 50 fly long-course world record holder, has over the rest of the world in this event into perspective. This in-season swim would have won her silver at both 2022 Worlds and the 2022 European Championships. She herself won gold at both those meets, in 24.95 and 24.96–the only swimmer sub-25. Melanie Henique finished second in 25.88, with Beryl Gastaldello. third in 26.01.
That was the only event the Swede raced on Day 1, but she’s slated to swim the 100 freestyle on Day 2 of the meet.
Tes Schouten collected the win in the women’s 100 breaststroke in 1:06.65. She was the only person to break 1:08 as Florine Gaspard and Charlotte Bonnet finished second and third in 1:08.02 and 1:08.65. Schouten’s swim ties her with Lara van Niekerk for fifth in the world this season. It’s her third-fastest swim ever, only slower than the two times she swam at the 2022 Rotterdam Qualification Meet.
The Dutch picked up another win in the breaststroke, this time from Arno Kamminga in the 50-meter. Kamminga won his race in 27.29, moving him into a three-way tie with Nic Fink and Melvin Imoud for fourth this season. Kamminga had a rocky 2022 long-course season, but he took the win here easily, touching over half a second ahead of Antoine Viquerat (27.85).
In the men’s 100 fly, France’s fast-rising sprinter Maxime Grousset scared his lifetime best, earning first in 52.12. That time for him is second only to the 52.00 he swam earlier this year in February. Hungary’s Szebasztian Szabo took second in 52.79.
Other Day 1 Event Winners
- Men’s 200 Free: Hadrien Salvan — 1:47.31
- Men’s 200 IM: Jaouad Syoud — 2:00.00
- Women’s 1500 Free: Anastassia Kirpitchnikova — 16:07.45
- Women’s 200 Back: Pauline Mahieu — 2:11.19
- Women’s 400 IM: Fantine Lesaffre — 4:39.82
Sarah Sjostrom doing Sarah Sjostrom things. I really want Sweden to get four solid legs together on a relay at the Olympics before she retires.
I just don’t see a relay medal for Sweden in Paris unless some phenom appears. They were 1.7 seconds off the medals in the medley in Tokyo and that’s with the other 3 legs swimming close to their best and Sjostrom with a 52.67 (she could obviously be better but she’s not splitting a 50.9).
In the free relay they were 1.9 seconds off medals. Sjostrom opened with 52.6 which theoretically could be a 51 high (although she’s only been a 51 once and that was 6 years ago). Coleman was 0.6 off her flat start PB, but the Hanssons were both a full second faster than their flat start PBs.
In theory, if Sjostrom returned to her top form… Read more »
She’s a different gravy
This is the T-46th fastest 50 fly in history. Of the 45 faster times, 39 of them are Sjostrom’s, including the top 18.