2019 ISL Finale: Start Lists Released; Dressel Enters 50 Breast

2019 INTERNATIONAL SWIMMING LEAGUE – FINALE

• Friday, December 20 – Saturday, December 21, 2019
• 1:00 – 3:00 PM Local Time (U.S. Pacific Time)
• Madalay Bay Resort and Casino – Las Vegas, NV
• Short Course Meters (SCM) format
• Top 4 qualifying franchises: Energy Standard, London Roar, LA Current, Cali Condors
• Live Stream (ESPN3)
• Day 1 start lists

The International Swimming League has released its start lists for day 1 of the 2019 season finale.

You can view full start lists here.

We covered the meet extensively, team-by-team, in our meet preview. You can find that here. From our team predictions:

London still feels like the heavy favorites, as long as the jet lag doesn’t knock them down big-time. The two European franchises are very likely dueling for the win, with the American teams rematching their derby clash for third. If we’re generalizing, the main differences in those two battles will probably come down to (1) relay DQs and (2) gaming relay lineups for max points. In the deepest ISL field we’ve seen this season, it’ll be that much harder to split relays – but a team that can get its B relay up to 4th or 5th overall is going to see a huge point boost.

We’ll take LA to once again beat Cali. The Current have some veterans who may subscribe to the Matt Grevers shave-and-taper philosophy, and they’ve generally shown up very well in the big moments. If Beryl Gastaldello makes the skins second round, this should break LA’s way, but if one of the Condors can sneak into the spot instead (or if all four LA and Cali entrants miss the second round – a real possibility), then things even up much more between the two American teams.

We’ll start poring over them and collecting any interesting tidbits below.

• Cali Condors star Caeleb Dressel will take on the 50 breaststroke. That helps cover an extreme Cali weakness on the men’s side, but does leave Dressel in five events over today’s three sessions.
• Japanese standout Daiya Seto is one of the top new additions to the league this meet. He’ll swim for Energy Standard, and is entered in his traditional 400 IM, as well as on a medley relay as a butterflyer.
• The London Roar have Kyle Chalmers entered in the 50 free – he’s not a major surprise there, but Alex Graham probably is. London has mostly used others in the 50, and it remains to be seen if Graham will maintain the spot for the skin race tomorrow.
• London also has both Campbell sisters – Cate and Bronte – in the women’s 50, in lieu of Emma McKeon, though they could swap back to McKeon for the skins race.
• Duncan Scott is in the 400 IM for London – that’s on the higher end of his range. He has a pretty light lineup otherwise, though, swimming just the IM and two relays.
• Same story for Kliment Kolesnikov of Energy Standard – he’s in only the 50 back and two relays, once again passing up the 200 back, probably in an Energy Standard attempt to keep him rested for the men’s medley relay shortly thereafter.