May came to an end with the Mare Nostrum Tour - in Monte Carlo on the 23rd and 24th, Canet on 27-28th and, this weekend, Barcelona on May 30-31 -and the highlights of the six days of competition were two sub-052sec 100m freestyle swims from Marrit Steenbergen, of The Netherlands: 51.86 and 51.97, leaving the all-time top 10 performances list looking like this: .

Here's a short wrap of the action, focussed on swims that topped 900 points, with a link to our separate on Steenbergen's 51.86 and American Anna Moesch's 51.94 at the AP Race London International last weekend:

Steenbergen Slipstreams Up To Sjostrom With All-Time No2 51.86 Dutch Delight

Just two days after Anna Moesch rocketed to a 51.94 Americas records to become the 2nd fastest ever over 100m free, she’s now 3rd in the ranks, the Dutch reigning World champion shuffling the best-ever Top 10 yet again to bring Day 1 at the Canet round of the Mare Nostrum to a sizzling close

State Of Swimming +Craig Lord

Moesch’s 51.94 Message To Dolphins: Eagles Are After Your 4x100 Crown at LA2028

Only Sarah Sjöström, the double Olympic 50-100m freestyle sprint champion and 51.71 World-record holder from Sweden, has ever swum faster than Moesch’s march past the 52s from 53.2. to 51.9 at the London International. Great expectations ahoy!

State Of Swimming +Craig Lord

Round 3 - Barcelona

Day 2

Siobhan Haughey and Marrit Steenbergen concluded their tour rivalry in a 200m free final that saw the top series 400m swimmer, Erika Fairweather storm back into contention and miss her mark by just 0.27sec.

Victory went to Hong Kong's Haughey in 1:55.22, Fairweather on 1:55.49, not far shy off the 1:55.06 New Zealand record she set at nationals last month (which took down her 1:55.44 from 2023. Fairweather was 1.21sec shy of Haughey feet win the wall at the last turn, before chasing her Olympic medallist quarry with a 29.04 last length, to the winners 29.98.

Czech ace Barbora Seemanova clocked 1:56.64 f0r third place just ahead of Steenbergen, in 1:57.72 to bring and need to a tour on which the Dutch ace has shuffled the all-time top 10 performers and performances rankings with efforts of 51.86 and 51.97 in the 100m freestyle, the 4th and 5th swims ever to see a woman race below 52sec. The 200m race:

In the 50m free, Haughey faced a different Dutch opponent: Milou Van Wijk took the last dash of the tour in 24.33 ahead of the Asian ace's 24.45, with Taylor Ruck of Canada, enjoying two podiums a short space apart:

Steenbergen bypassed the 50 free but she would not end the last day of your without racing Ruck. The Canadian trailed American Leah Shackley 28.71 to 28.76 at the turn but a 29.95, the sole-0sub 30sec return in the race, had Ruck on 58.71 by the close of battle, the time a meet record and in the club of 900-point swims on tour this year.

Shackley was closest, on the clock and just 6 points shy of the 900 line, on 59.29, Ruck's teammate Ingrid Wilm on 59.63 and Steenbergen making it four inside the minute bringing the race to a close with a fourth sub-minute, on 59.59.

On the men's side, the 900-point-plus swim of the final day also set a meet mark, Ruck's former Canada teammate, Ilya Kharun, based in Arizona and now sporting American nationality, on 22.99 in the 50m butterfly. One of two neutral athletes in the top 4 at a meet in Spain (where, unlike Monte Carlo and Canet does not recognise the aggressor nations in the war on Ukraine), Oleg Kostin was next home, in 23.12, while third home was a man who turns 46 this year: Brazilian Nicholas Santos, on 23.31, and making a comeback in time for a shot at 50 'fly at LA2028 after the stroke dash events were added to the Olympic program for the next Games:

Day 1

Women's 100m free

Marrit Steenbergen strikes again: after a 51.86 blast at the Canet round of the Tour, the Dutch World champion of 2024 and 2025 became the first woman to race inside 52sec twice in her career. A touch shy of her 51.86, Steenbergen, coached by Patrick Pearson, was out in 25.09, home in 26.88 for a 51.07. That compares to these best off class splits:

24.83 - 26.88 - 51.71 Sarah Sjöström (SWE) Budapest - 23/07/2017
24.91 - 26.95 - 51.86 Marrit Steenbergen (NED) Canet - 27/05/2026 
25.18 - 26.76 - 51.94 Anna Moesch (USA) London - 25/05/2026
24.81 - 27.17 - 52.04 Simone Manuel (USA) Gwangju - 26/07/2019
25.46 - 26.61 - 52.07 Britta Steffen (GER) - Rome 31/07/2009
24.98 - 27.08 - 52.06 Cate Campbell (AUS)- Brisbane 02/07/2016
25.51 - 26.62 - 52.13 Marrit Steenbergen (NED) - Monte Carlo 23/05/2026

Steenbergen was pressed, as she had been on the first day ion the tour in Monaco last weekend, by Hong Kong's Siobhan Haughey, only this time, it was Steenbergen who set the pace not only back, but there and back:

In other finals topped by 900-point-plus efforts:

Men's 200m breaststroke

Women's 100m breaststroke:

Women's 200m freestyle

A few other races were won with efforts just under the 900-point mark, including:

Women's 800m free

Men's 50m free

Men's 800 free:

Round 2 - Canet-en-Roussillon

Day 2 - May 27

The following finals produced at least one swimmer who breached the 900-point mark:

Day 1 - May 26

Steenbergen Joins The Sub 52sec Club

Steenbergen Slipstreams Up To Sjostrom With All-Time No2 51.86 Dutch Delight

Just two days after Anna Moesch rocketed to a 51.94 Americas records to become the 2nd fastest ever over 100m free, she’s now 3rd in the ranks, the Dutch reigning World champion shuffling the best-ever Top 10 yet again to bring Day 1 at the Canet round of the Mare Nostrum to a sizzling close

State Of Swimming +Craig Lord

Round 1 - Monaco

Day 2 - May 24

Women's 100m free

World champion Marrit Steenbergen, of The Netherlands, set a Dutch record and meet mark of 52.13sec, an opening speed for her tour that suggests she may her building a special week ahead. Out in 25.51, she trailed Hong Kong's Siobhan Haughey and a 25.36 but then hit back with a 26.62 to take the win and throw down a hefty gauntlet. A day after a 1:54 low ion the 200m, Haughey stopped the 100m clock art 52.67:

Women's 200m medley

The Dash Finals:

Day 1, May 23

The 2026 Mare Nostrum Tour got off to a fast start in Monte Carlo when Siobhan Haughey, of Hong Kong, set a meet mark of 1:54.27 for a dominant victory in the 200m freestyle.

Closest to her were two others who promise to make an impact on tour this year, Erika Fairweather, of New Zealand, on 1:56.10, Canada's Mary Sophie Harvey on 1:57.36.

The men's finbal of the day saw Dutch speedster Caspar Corbeau take the 200m breaststroke in 2:09.11, while Hungarian 200 'fly World record holder Kristof Milak returned to international waters with 148.13 win in the 100m free.

Also in The Vortex:

• Duncan Scott & Angahard Evans Joined By 23 Mates On Home Glasgow 2026 Commonwealths Squad
• Swimming Mourns Dolphin #453: 1994 World 25km Champion Melissa Cunningham
• A Brace For Torri Huske in Sacramento
• Neil Brooks Clear To Celebrate Different Victory 46 Years After Olympic Glory
• Roos Vanotterdijk, Florine Gaspard & Lucas Henveaux Leads Belgian Team To Paris Europeans
• The Car Ride Home! - Wisdom from Wayne Goldsmith
• WADA Slams Enhanced Project As 'Clown Show' Draws Near - & The Guardian Rejected After Raising Legitimate Concerns
• Teen Mijatovic Goes His First Sub-15 In the 1500 As Pro Swim Gets Underway in Sacramento
• Katie Ledecky Honoured By Yale: "A Streaking Comet in Water"
• Lewis Clareburt Closes Nationals With 4:09 Gauntlet To Glasgow for Another Kiwi 400IM Crown
• 'Best Yet To Come' - Vanotterdijk On 56.7 Return To Racing
• Emma McKeon Moving On & Off To Sydney For New Chapter In Life
• Third Freestyle Crown For Fairweather In Sub-16 1500 At NZL Nationals
• Lewis Clareburt & Erika Fairweather Build Their Glasgow 2026 Campaigns -
• The return Of Ryan ... Murphy - As The Other Ryan ... Lochte Joins Coaching Ranks
• Britain's Euro Junior Team Announced For Munich 2026
• England 42 To Race At Glasgow Commonwealths
• USA Swimming & Speedo Extend Partnership Through 2028
• Florian Wellbrock & German Men's Distance Free Force Lead 44-Strong Team To Paris Euros
• Moesha Johnson Taking OW World Cup By Storm
• Regan Smith Leads Isabelle Stadden To No 3 In All-Time Sub-58 100 Back Club ... at the same meet:

Walsh Within 0.06 Of Spitz At His Best, Her Best 100 ’Fly A 4th Career WR Of 54.33

On 25.09 at the turn, the Virginia ace was travelling at a speed that only Swedish ace Sarah Sjöstrom (24.43 WR) Walsh herself, China’s Zhang Yufei and the model of sprinting Sjöstrom aspired to in Sweden, Therese Alshammar, have ever swum faster than in a pure 50m race

State Of Swimming +Craig Lord

• Léon Marchand & Summer McIntosh Practice What They'll Preach In Championship Waters This Summer
• Seven Russian Aquatics Athletes Sanctioned Among 300 Caught In WADA Operation LIMS

News Of The Month:

Olympic Boss Of A Business Slipping Directors $55m A Cycle Tells Athletes ‘No Pay Day For You!’

Analysis: Kirsty Coventry says she doesn’t believe athletes should be paid for their work. Then again, she presides over a business that pays directors more in an Olympic cycle than any single international federation gets as a share of Olympic revenues for its entire sport

State Of Swimming +Craig Lord

Time For Fight Not Flight If You Want A Swimmers’ Pay Day

To the left, a bulked up $250,000 for a pyrrhic victory at a bonfire of vanities that turned into a damp squib; to the right, a tennis player out injured in First round at the French Open where that starter match carries a €87,000 pay day. What’s the real swimmer to do? Stand up and be counted…

State Of Swimming +Craig Lord

IN OTHER NEWS:

Thursday May 7

Obituary, Tributes & Plaudits for Coach Ian Turner

Swimming Mourns Ian Turner, Mentor To Paul Palmer & Guide On Britain’s Long & Winding Road To 4x200 Glory

“Ian Turner an absolute master of coaching from the 1980 ; 1990 and 2000’s. Ian tread where few others dared and took down barriers that stood in the way of many British and English athletes and national staff opening up new horizons for so many who dared to be better than the system permitted.”

State Of Swimming +Craig Lord

The Far-Reaching, Long-Lasting Legacy Of Coach Ian Turner

Memories among the mourning, with plaudits and tributes to former head coach to Great Britain Ian Turner ... “Ian was a larger than life character - passionate about swimming and an excellent leader. He led by example and brought groups of swimmers and staff together with purpose and humour.”

State Of Swimming +Craig Lord

The SOS FORUM:

FORUM - Has Swimming Lost Its Lore & Love of Storytelling?

“People are not interested in swimming ... they’re interested in swimmers”. So said Buck Dawson 40 years ago. In 2026, swimming is still treading water in its niche pool between Olympic Heights, with no pro-sports economy to speak of. What’s gone wrong & how can swimming spread its song of swimmers?

State Of Swimming +Craig Lord

FORUM: What Happened To The Swim In Swimbledon?

Part 3 - Swimming’s Search For Growth. It’s ten years since SwimVortex published a vision headlined “Great Day Out At Swimbledon At The Dawn of a Golden Era for Professional Swimmers”. Every bit as relevant today

State Of Swimming +Craig Lord

MORE EDITORIALS

How World Aquatics Is At Risk Of Repeating Catastrophic Mistakes From Sports Politics History

Time for athletes and swimming federations around the world to tell international regulators happy to see sport played out in a political battlefield: “NO! NO WAY! NYET!” ... here’s why…

State Of Swimming +Craig Lord

Fencing Athletes & Coaches Place IOC En Garde In Bout Over The Russian Question

Editorial follow-up from yesterday’s post: In a move that highlights the storm heading into Olympic sport ahead of LA2028, fencers & their mentors call on Kirsty Coventry to block overt Russia-U.S. politicisation of sport in one of the biggest protests from athletes in Olympic history

State Of Swimming +Craig Lord