Swimming

Victorious Matthew Sates ends Mare Nostrum dressed to the nines

29 May 2022 - 20:12
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Matthew Sates won nine golds at the Mare Nostrum series.
Matthew Sates won nine golds at the Mare Nostrum series.
Image: EPA/Szilard Koszticsak

Matthew Sates ended his European tour with nine victories in nine outings after taking the 200m individual medley on the final night of the final third Mare Nostrum gala in Canet on Sunday. 

Sates was first across the pool on the opening butterfly leg, but he fell behind on the backstroke and was second into the turn after the breaststroke, but that’s when he shifted into another gear in the freestyle to power to victory in 1min 57.77sec. 

American Samuel Stewart was second in 1:59.15 and Switzerland’s Jeremy Desplanches, the Olympic bronze medallist in this event and European champion from 2018, third in 1:59.28. 

Pieter Coetzé took bronze in the men’s 100m backstroke, but his 53.84sec was still a decent effort, the second-best time of his career. 

Competitors here are mostly still in hard training for the world championships in Budapest next month and the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, which kick off on July 28. 

Coetzee was third into the wall, but perhaps he turned a little too soon, giving himself less leverage in the kick off the wall. 

Japan’s multiple Olympic medallist from 2012, Ryosuke Irie, won in a 53.00 Mare Nostrum record with Frenchman Yohann Ndoye-Brouard, a 2020 European bronze medallist in this event, finishing second in 53.15. 

Lara van Niekerk had to settle for silver in the women’s 50m breaststroke, touching in 30.20sec to  get pipped at the end by Olympic 100m champion Lydia Jacoby of the US by five-hundredths of a second. 

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