Siobhan Haughey Claims 200 Freestyle Title as Mare Nostrum Tour Opens
A four-time Olympic medalist between the 100-meter freestyle and 200 freestyle, Hong Kong’s Siobhan Haughey got her Mare Nostrum Tour off to an impressive start on Saturday. Competing on the first of two days in Monaco, Haughey comfortably won the 200 freestyle as her preparations for this summer’s World Championships in Singapore continue to take shape.
En route to her first win of this year’s Mare Nostrum circuit, Haughey recorded a time of 1:56.45, which was nearly three seconds faster than the 1:59.20 of Israel’s Anastasia Gorbenko. Haughey and Gorbenko were the only women to dip under the two-minute barrier, and Haughey had a lead of 1.31 seconds by the midway point of the race. Haughey owns a personal best of 1:53.92 in the 200 freestyle, an effort that makes her the seventh-fastest performer in history.
Ksawery Masiuk Wins 100 Backstroke Showdown
Poland’s Ksawery Masiuk, who will head to the University of Texas in the fall, emerged victorious in a 100 backstroke showdown with Russia’s Kliment Kolesnikov, who was competing as a neutral athlete. Masiuk notched a winning time of 53.81, with Kolesnikov following in 54.03. Masiuk was out in 25.79, compared to the 26.00 of Kolesnikov, and the Polish star added to his margin on the second lap.
Both Masiuk and Kolesnikov have been considerably faster this year. Masiuk sits sixth in the world for the 2025 season, off a 52.55 swim he posted at the Polish Championships. Meanwhile, Kolesnikov is the world leader from his 52.04 performance at the Russian Championships last month.
Russia’s Kirill Prigoda, also competing as a neutral athlete, went unchallenged in the men’s 200 breaststroke. Prigoda built a lead of more than a second on the opening length and cruised to a victory of more than three seconds. Prigoda finished in 2:09.90, which was well ahead of the 2:13.14 of Hong Kong’s Adam Chillingworth.
Germany’s Anna Elendt and Belarus’ Alina Zmushka, racing as a neutral athlete, deadlocked at 1:07.10 in the 100 breaststroke. Elendt had a slim margin of .04 at the turn, but nothing separated the women at the finish, with Russia’s Yuliya Efimova placing third in 1:07.24.
Nandor Nemeth Claims 100 Freestyle Title
Hungarian Nandor Nemeth put together a come-from-behind triumph in the men’s 100 freestyle, as his time of 49.06 bettered the 49.45 of Italian Manuel Frigo. Nemeth faced a 23.89 to 24.03 deficit at the turn, but the Hungarian was much stronger than Frigo over the homecoming lap. Nemeth closed in 25.03, compared to the 25.56 of Frigo.
Nemeth finished just off the podium at last summer’s Olympic Games in Paris, where he was fourth in the 100 freestyle. Nemeth was timed in La Defense Arena in 47.50, which left him .01 behind David Popovici, the bronze medalist.
While Frigo handed Italy a runnerup finish, countryman Alberto Razetti picked up victories in the 200 butterfly and 200 individual medley. Razetti touched the wall in 1:57.03 in the fly to outdistance Polat-Uzer Turnali of Turkey, who checked in at 1:57.72. He came back to win the 200 IM in 2:00.49.
In Other Action:
Sweden’s Louise Hansson posted the only sub-58 outing in the women’s 100 butterfly, going 57.91 to edge the Netherlands’ Tessa Giele (58.03). Hansson was ahead by a hundredth of a second at the turn and never allowed Giele to chip into her narrow deficit.
Only .01 separated Poland’s Laura Bernat and Belarus’ Anastasiya Shkurdai in the 200 backstroke. Bernat finished in 2:09.87, with Shkurdai going 2:09.88. Hungary’s Attila Kovacs was the winner of the men’s 400 freestyle, going 3:50.08, and France’s Cyrielle Duhamel prevailed in the women’s 400 individual medley with a swim of 4:41.56.
