Molly Renshaw shared a 200m Breaststroke 1-2 with teammate Abbie Wood, while Tom Dean and Ben Proud achieve Freestyle success in France.
Racing the final stop of the Mare Nostrum Series in Canet-en-Roussilon, Renshaw and Dean added to their victories from just days earlier at the Barcelona leg of the tour in a measured fashion as they continue to put in the groundwork ahead of June’s FINA World Aquatics Championships.
Sunday’s Women’s 200m Breaststroke did not just feature Renshaw on the podium however, with fellow David Hemmings coached swimmer Abbie Wood staying on the coattails of her teammate all the way to the wall for silver – her fourth Mare Nostrum medal in 2022 having added a further 200m Individual medley bronze the previous day to her brace from Barcelona.
Tom Dean also upped his Mare Nostrum haul to four medals with triumph in both the Men’s 100m and 200m Freestyle at the Centre de Natation Arlette Franco. The Bath-based athlete navigating the heats with energy conserved to drop his times in the final as he upgraded on his 200m silver from earlier in the week and recorded back to back 100m wins, with his latest swum from the outside lane.
Britain’s first gold of the meet meanwhile was awarded to Ben Proud in a lightning fast Men’s 50m Freestyle showdown that saw him pip his Brazilian counterpart, Bruno Fratus, with both men under 22 seconds as they exchanged the steps on the podium from their encounter earlier in the series. Proud closed out his Canet competition programme with the event in which he took secured his 2017 world title in - claiming a silver in the Men’s 50m Butterfly.
Elsewhere there were narrowly missed repeat tour wins for Freya Anderson (Women’s 200m Freestyle), Laura Stephens (Women’s 200m Butterfly) and Luke Greenbank (Men’s 200m Backstroke) who claimed a silver apiece, whilst Anna Hopkin’s bronze was just one hundredth shy of second place in the Women’s 50m Freestyle.
With a World Championship debut pending for Medi Harris in just under three weeks time, the Swansea University swimmer showed resolve having missed out on the Women’s 50m Backstroke podium by 0.04 seconds, to return and earn herself a bronze in the 100m Backstroke the following afternoon in a fast race that saw the Mare Nostrum record fall.
Meanwhile the 1500m Freestyle events served up a further pair of British bronzes for Amber Keegan and Daniel Jervis, the former recording a six second personal best as a host of other athletes continued to develop their racing experience on the international circuit.
Find livestreamed sessions of the 2022 Mare Nostrum series available to watch back and full results information on the official website here.
