Maana Patel sets new record in the women's 100m backstroke

Maana Patel of India won the ‘Best Indian Time‘ in the women’s 100m backstroke category at the Canet leg of the Mare Nostrum Swimming Tour 2022 in France.

The Mare Nostrum Tour concluded on Sunday after nine days of competition in three cities: Monaco, Barcelona, and Canet.

The 22-year-old Gujarati swimmer, who competed in the Tokyo Olympics last year, set a personal best time of 01:03.69 on the final day of the tournament on Sunday night. Maana, the first Indian woman to compete in the Olympics ahead of Tokyo 2020, also competed in the 50m backstrokes but did not advance to the finals.

Maana set a new world record in the heat of the final leg in Canet, despite finishing sixth in the finals. B. Suvana Bhasker, another Indian swimmer, finished 30th.

Another Indian swimmer who participated in the Tokyo Olympics was Srihari Nataraj, who contested in the men’s 50m freestyle, 100m, and 200m backstroke events. Srihari won three gold medals at the Khelo India University Games last month and was 0.70 seconds away from winning a medal in the 100m backstroke in Monaco. He finished fifth in the same event in Canet.

Meanwhile, in Barcelona, Likith Selvaraj was the only Indian participating in the men’s 50m and 100m breaststroke competitions. He struggled to make the finals in both disciplines.

Swimmers were awarded points based on their performance in each of the three legs of the Mare Nostrum Tour. The tour was won by the swimmers who had the most wins across the three meets.

Maana had previously established the prior ‘Best Indian time’ in the competition of 01:03.77 in Belgrade last year.

Whenever a time is set during the National Aquatic Championships, it is considered a swimming national record. As a result, the ‘Best Indian Time’ relates to other meetings’ times.