Apparatus and Process for delivering molten steel to a continuous casting mold with high inclusion removal capability and high mold pool flow optimization potential includes a tundish with a novel design and a metal distributor comprising a main chamber body connected to a vacuum device and tubes for metal exchange between the tundish, the distributor and the casting mold. At least one of the tubes has gas injection devices to perform gas lifting functions. The new design of the tundish enables it to receive all the steel in a ladle without leaving any heel and refining the steel to an extremely low inclusion level. The distributor is able to achieve an effective hydrostatic head relative to the mold metal level of the order of 10−2 m or below in the submerged entry nozzle and obtain fully filled and stable flow with low disturbance inside the SEN and therefore is able to deliver the molten steel at low velocities at SEN exits with minimum turbulent disturbance and high flow, thermal and chemical homogeneity over the entire metal bath in the mold. The invention also makes it possible to leave no heels in either the tundish or the distributor when they are replaced. The invention is particularly useful for thin slab and strip casting processes where mold flow control is critical to the casting process.