The 2019 Mare Nostrum Series opened on Saturday with its first stop in Monaco.
A full slate of events opened on Day 1 with some of the best swimmers in the world competing internationally.
Katinka Hosszu won two events, with Michael Andrew also among the winners. Siobhan Haughey became the first Hong Kong swimmer to ever win gold in the Mare Nostrum Series as well.
Order of Events
Men’s 400 Free
Women’s 400 IM
Men’s 200 Breast
Women’s 100 Breast
Men’s 100 Free
Women’s 200 Free
Men’s 200 Fly
Women’s 100 Fly
Men’s 100 Back
Women’s 200 Back
Men’s 200 IM
Men’s 400 Free
Russia took the top two spots in the men’s 400 free to open the first day of finals.
Martin Malyutin won the timed final event in 3:47.47 to easily hold off compatriot Aleksandr Krasnykh, who finished in 3:49.28.
Norway’s Henrik Christiansen finished third in 4:39.66.
Women’s 400 IM
Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu got the women’s portion of the meet off to an extremely fast start as she set a Monaco meet record in the 400 IM, while holding off some of the top competition in the world.
Hosszu won the race in 4:32.87 to set the meet record for Monaco and turn in her fastest performance of the year, and the world’s fastest this year. She also holds the meet record for the entire Mare Nostrum Series that she set in Barcelona in 2016 (4:30.75) and the world record set in Rio in 2016 (4:26.36).
American swimmer Madisyn Cox finished second in 4:37.80, in a personal-best time, to pull away from Hungary’s Zsuzsanna Jakobos, who finished in 4:43.62.
Men’s 200 Breast
The first A final of the night was pretty epic, resulting in a stunning tie for first place.
Germany’s Marco Koch and Japan’s Shoma Sato each touched the wall in 2:10.31 to share top honors. Sato was ahead before Koch closed in the final 50.
Russia’s Kirill Prigoda finished third in 2:10.76 to hold off Yasuhiro Koseki (2:11.03) and Nic Fink (2:11.06).
Women’s 100 Breast
Russia’s Yuliya Efimova pulled away for a strong victory in the 100 breast, finishing in 1:05.77. Her time crushed the field by two seconds and was a half second off the meet record.
Maria Temnikova made it a 1-2 Russian finish by taking second in 1:07.80.
Alina Zmushka of Belarus finished third in 1:08.08.
Men’s 100 Free
Another tie happened in the men’s 100 free, though it was not for first place.
Russia’s Vladislav Grinev won the event in 48.58, the only one in the field to break 49. It was not quite as fast as his 47.43 he set earlier this year as the world’s top time of 2019.
Russia’s Andrey Zhilkin and France’s Maxime Grousset tied for second place in 49.24.
Women’s 200 Free
Hong Kong’s Siobhan Haughey threw down a stunning performance in her first race of the meet to earn her country’s first victory in the history of the Mare Nostrum Series.
The recent Michigan graduate won the 200 free in 1:56.05, which was less than a tenth of a second away from her career-best performance that she set at the world championships in two years ago. It was also the fifth-fastest time of the year in the world.
Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu, swimming her second event of the night, finished second in 1:57.72 to hold off Russia’s Valeria Salamantina (1:57.83).
Men’s 200 Fly
Hungary completed a 1-2 finish in the men’s 200 fly as Bence Biczo and David Verraszto each finished under 1:59.
Biczo won the race in 1:58.09 to hold off Verraszto (1:58.98).
Japan’s Tomoru Honda took third place 1:59.04.
Women’s 100 Fly
Anastasiya Shkurdai of Belarus was the lone swimmer in the field to break 58 in the 100 fly and won the event in 57.78, the second-fastest time of her career.
France’s Beryl Gastaldello finished second in 58.20, followed by Russia’s Svetlana Chimrova (58.24).
Natalie Hinds of the U.S. finished fourth in the event, clocking a 58.86.
Men’s 100 Back
Michael Andrew of the U.S. started strong and held off the field to win the 100 back in 53.84, the only one in the field to break 54. He used a late burst of speed to take the lead in the final meters.
Greece’s Apostolos Christou finished second in 54.25, while Austria’s Bernhard Reitshammer finished third in 54.51.
Men’s 200 IM
Japan’s Daiya Seto won the 200 IM, breaking the Monaco stop record in the series.
Seto pulled ahead of the field on the back and finished in 1:57.60. Kosuke Hagino held the Monaco record in 1:57.79, set in 2015.
Hungary’s David Verraszto finished second in 2:01.58, well behind Seto, but well ahead of third-place Noe Ponti of Switzerland, who finished in 2:03.09.
SPRINT TOURNAMENT
Quarterfinals
The top four reach the semis of the 50 events.
In the men’s 50 fly, Ukraine’s Andrii Govorov (23.43), Hungary’s Szebasztian Szabo (23.62), Russia’s Roland Schoeman (23.65) and Russia’s Mikhail Vekovishchev (23.76) qualified for the semifinals.
In the women’s 50 fly, Hungary’s Beatrix Bordas (26.64), Belgium’s Kimberly Buys (26.66), Russia’s Anna Surkova (26.74) and Anastasiya Shkurdai (26.92) of Belarus qualified for the semifinals.
In the men’s 50 back, Michael Andrew (24.82), Russia’s Sergei Fesikov (25.06), Russia’s Evgeny Rylov (25.15) and Greece’s Apostolos Christou (35.33) advances to the semifinals.
In the women’s 50 back, Hong Kong’s Stephanie Hoi Shun (27.98), Austria’s Caroline Pilhatsch (28.08), Finland’s Mimosa Jallow (28.28) and China’s Wenwen Zhang (28.79) advanced.
In the men’s 50 free, Brazil’s Felipe Lima broke the Monaco record to win the quarterfinal heat in 26.79. Russia’s Ilya Shymanovich (27.01), American Nic Fink (27.34) and Japan’s Yasuhiro Koseki (27.65) advanced.
In the women’s 50 breast, Russia’s Yuliya Efimova (30.59), Brazil’s Jhennifer Conceicao (31.07), Alina Zmushka (31.08) of Belarus and Spain’s Jessica Vall Montero (31.22) qualified.
In the men’s 50 free, Greece’s Kristian Gkolomeev (21.81), Brazil’s Bruno Fratus (21.89), Japan’s Shinri Shioura (22.09) and Finland’s Ari Pekka Liukkonen (22.160 advanced.
In the women’s 50 free, Russia’s Mariia Kameneva (24.41), France’s Beryl Gastaldello (25.12), Hong Kong’s Siobhan Haughey (25.21) and Japan’s Rika Omoto (25.26) qualified for the finals in the last heat of the day.
CORRECTION:
In the men’s 50 BREAST not free, as article says, Brazil’s Felipe Lima broke the Monaco record to win the quarterfinal heat in 26.79.