2020 ISL Match 3 – Day 2 Live Recap

2020 INTERNATIONAL SWIMMING LEAGUE: MATCH 3

• Saturday, October 24: 12 PM – 2 PM Local Time (6 AM – 8 AM Eastern, 7 PM – 9 PM Japan Time)
• Sunday, October 25: 5 PM – 7 PM Local Time (12 PM – 2 PM Eastern, 1 AM – 3 AM J+1 Japan)
• Duna Arena – Budapest, Hungary
• Short Course Meters (SCM) Format
• 2020 ISL Scoring Format
• 2020 ISL Prize Money and Bonuses
• How To Watch
• ISL Match 3 Full Results
• Teams: Toronto Titans, Tokyo Frog Kings, Aqua Centurions, LA Current

The International Swimming League (ISL) continues with day two of Match 3 in Budapest as the LA Current hold a narrow 14-point lead over the debuting Tokyo Frog Kings. Another season two debut team, the Toronto Titans, sit in a comfy third place while the Aqua Centurions trail in fourth place after day one.

TEAM SCORES AFTER DAY ONE

Follow along with ISL Season 2 Match 3 below;

Start Lists

• Read more about day two entries here.

Lanes

• 1 & 2 – Toronto Titans (TOR)
• 3 & 4 – LA Current (LAC)
• 5 & 6 – Tokyo Frog Kings (TOK)
• 7 & 8 – Aqua Centurions (AQC)

Recap: Nick Pecoraro, Analysis: Ben Dornan

DAY 2 EVENTS

WOMEN’S 100 FREE

To open up day 2, it was Beryl Gastaldello who came it strong and to the victory for the LA Current. In her 11th ISL victory, she made a strong comeback, taking the lead from Toronto’s Coleman on the back half. Following a tight battle in the 50 free yesterday wherein Gastaldello took 10 points in the race, with a jackpot from Aqua’s Oliveira.

Catie DeLoof improved upon her season-best relay split of 52.38 last year to come second in a 52.20 today. Last season, DeLoof did not swim an individual 100 free when with the NY Breakers. Murez from LA was third, breaking her lifetime best and the Israeli national record, which countrymate Anastasiya Gorbenko broke last Saturday. That gives LA a total of 15 points in the race to increase their lead from yesterday. Coleman followed in fourth place with her teammate Meynen placing seventh.

MEN’S 100 FREE

Showing off their team’s clear strong suit, the Aqua Centurions nearly went 1-2 in the men’s 100 freestyle today. Ultimately they went 1-3, with Alessandro Miressi finishing first and Marcelo Chierighini was third. Blake Pieroni wedged himself in for second, delivering 7 points to the Toronto Titans.
 
Maxime Rooney repeated as fourth place in the event following his ISL debut last week at Match 1. Toronto’s Chadwick improved upon an 8th finish yesterday in the 50 free, taking 5th here in the 100. LA’s Gkolomeev was sixth for LA.
 
With Morozov taking the race off, the Tokyo Frog Kings were left with 7th and 8th place, Quintero getting 2 points for the team, Fratus getting 1.

WOMEN’S 200 FLY

Answering back from a disappointing men’s sprint, Suzuka Hasegawa dominated the field and delievered a huge victory for the Tokyo Frog Kings. Hasegawa raced to a new ISL record, improving upon Hali Flickinger’s 2:03.81 from last year. Hasegawa is a clear asset for the team, jackpotting the bottom four finishers for a total of 19 points. Teammate Shimizu followed in second for 7 points, bringing the race total to 26 points.
 
Toronto and LA were the only others to score points in the event. Tessa Cieplucha secured third place for Toronto and Gasson was fourth for 5 LA points.

MEN’S 200 FLY

In his sixth win this season, Tom Shields picked up first place for LA and jackpotted Toronto’s Pratt and teammate Heidtmann. The 12 points, however, weren’t enough to let LA keep their lead as Tokyo pushed themselves into first place of the meet standings.

The Frog Kings’ Honda swam to second place and Mizunuma followed with sixth, just escaping the jackpotting. Aqua’s Melo and de Deus gave Aqua an important 6 and 5 points, respectively. Since Pratt got jackpotted, Toronto only got 4 points in the event from 5th place Lelliott.

WOMEN’S 100 BACK

Kylie Masse improved upon her second place 200 backstroke yesterday with a win in the 100. Teammate Lisa Bratton beat her yesterday in the 200 and the 2 were close in the medley relay backstroke split. The pairing is a clear strength for the Titans, going 1-3 here for a total of 21 points with Masse’s jackpot.

That jackpot took from both of Aqua’s racers; Medeiros and Burian, along with LA’s Stewart. Kubova and Shirai from Tokyo sat in the middle, finishing 4th and 5th for 9 points.

MEN’S 100 BACK

In the first major upset of the meet, Tokyo’s Ryosuke Irie defeated favourite to win Ryan Murphy here in the 100 backstroke, who ended up coming third to Irie and Shane Ryan. Murphy won this event at Match 1 but couldn’t hold off the Frog Kings’ Irie.
 
 Irie added to Tokyo’s lead thus far in the meet with 12 points by jackpotting Knox of Toronto and de Deus of Aqua. Muphy and Carter for LA managed to come 3rd and 4th, for 11 points. Aqua’s Rivolta was sixth with 3 points.

WOMEN’S 100 IM

Tokyo kept up their lead with Runa Imai’s first place finish here and Yui Ohashi’s fourth place. LA has been in need of some top level points in order to get back their lead but Gorbenko and Weitzel were unable to trace down Imai; the on sub-58 swimmer in the field.
 
As the gap widens between the top two teams and Toronto, Wog and Hansson were unable to break into the top four here, winding up 5th and 6th. Aqua was last as Munoz and Verraszto both got jackpotted by Imani.

MEN’S 100 IM

It was world record holder Vlad Morozov that did what was expected and won the men’s 100 IM for the Frog Kings. Kosuke Hagino was fourth to bring the Frog Kings event total to 19 points. Swimming the race in a 51.46, trailing his world record of 50.26. LA’s Hvas and Prenot couldn’t quite get there in time to take the lead, finishing 2nd and 5th, respectively.

As the Frog Kings continue to dominate the session today, the Current will need to rely more heavily on making a late impact in the skins to get back lost points.

Sergey Fesikov delivered a 3rd place swim, and Pasynkov was seventh for Toronto. Aqua’s Heintz and Papastamos were 6th and 8th.

Team Scores Update

1. Tokyo Frog Kings – 395.5
2. LA Current – 339.5
3. Toronto Titans – 277.5
4. Aqua Centurions – 190.5

WOMEN’S 200 FREE

The fastest in the field going in, Rebecca Smith picked up an important victory for the Toronto Titans with a 1:53.59. The win was Toronto’s second of the day, following Kylie Masse’s 200 backstroke earlier. Smith’s time is the third fastest this season, only behind Siobhan Haughey’s 1:51.67 and Allison Schmitt’s 1:53.31 from Match 1. Toronto also placed 6th, coming from Anna Egorova.

Aqua’s Dumont produced strong second place finish in a 1:54.97 and her teammate Oliveira was last. Andi Murez for LA took third place and Tokyo went 4-5 with Igarashi and Smith.

MEN’S 200 FREE

Now going back-and-forth with LA for the lead, the Tokyo Frog Kings are picking up essential wins today, now including Katsuhiro Matsumoto in the 200 freestyle. Tokyo’s Quintero was fifth, adding four points to Matsumoto’s 9.
 
Blake Pieroni of Toronto looked to follow Smith’s lead and pick up a win in the 200 but was unsuccessful, coming second. Aqua’s Correia followed with third.
 
LA was lacking in this event, ending fourth and sixth which provided a blow to their standings. With only a few events remaining, the LA will look to take advantage of what they have left this morning in order to take back yesterday’s lead.

WOMEN’S 50 FLY

This was a massive shift in momentum for their LA Current, decisively reclaiming their spot atop the team standings. Beryl Gastaldello made her move in the 50 fly, beating everyone in the field and jackpotting all but 2 which was good enough for a 24-point haul. The key here is that she was able to take points from both of Tokyo’s swimmers, delivering a significant blow to their standings. LA’s Alyssa Marsh followed Gastaldello, securing 7 point to bring the Current to 31 for the event.
 
Michelle Coleman was not fast enough to get the win here but she did successfully escape the jackpotting, taking 6 points from third.

MEN’S 50 FLY

Szebastian Szabo broke his own ISL Record of 22.00 in the men’s 50 fly, using a best-in-class start early in the event. Notably, the commentators believed Szabo appeared to have flinched on the start, which could have resulted in a DQ.

A 2nd-place finish from Takeshi Kawamoto and 5th-place finish from Naoki Mizunuma, with LA Current having points stolen, swung Tokyo back into the lead by a single point after this race. Aqua Centurions scored the most points in the race after Szabo Jacked points from 3 swimmers, but Aqua is too far out of the team battle for it to matter much.

WOMEN’S 100 BREAST

The battle for the top spot continues. Miho Teramura delivered a solid win for Tokyo following a damaging 50 fly from LA’s Gastaldello. Her and Reona Aoki were first and fourth, respectively, contributing to Tokyo’s shot at the meet title. Arguably more important than the win, however, was LA’s poor performance. Julia Sebastian and Kierra Smith came sixth and seventh, only picking up 5 points to the Frog King’s 15. Kelsey Wog and Martina Carraro tied for second place, securing 6.5 points for Toronto and Aqua, respectively.
 
Another storyline here is Aqua’s lack of a second breaststroker. When Arianna Castiglioni pulled out due to injury, butterflyer Haley Black was subbed in and swam a 1:13.65, over 6 seconds slower than Smith’s seventh place 1:06.95.

MEN’S 100 BREAST

After pulling off a 200 breast upset yesterday, Toronto’s Anton McKee repeated as victor, taking the 100 breast title. Aqua, currently trailing in the team standings, came in at second and third, actually winning the event points-wise with 13. Toronto’s Erik Persson contributed 2 point from seventh to bring them up to 11.

The battling Tokyo and LA were close in this event, not changing the team standing much. Koseki and Sato picked up 6 points collectively for Tokyo, with Silva and Licon scoring 7 together for LA.

Team Scores Update

1. Tokyo Frog Kings – 413.5
2. LA Current – 403.5
3. Toronto Titans – 332.0
4. Aqua Centurions – 237.0

MIXED 4×100 FREESTYLE RELAY

Following the loss of their lead throughout this session, a relay win was important for LA if they want to make a comeback here. Rooney, Gkolomeev, Tetzloff, and Murez delivered the top time of 3:17.64 in the relay, followed up by Toronto and Tokyo for second and third.
 
All seven teams following LA’s winners were quick enough to avoid getting jackpotted, meaning that LA scored 18 points; the minimum number of points for a relay win. Moving forward, the battle for the match title is down to the IM and the skins.

WOMEN’S 400 IM

Following LA’s relay victory, it was up to Yui Ohashi to keep Tokyo’s hat in the ring for the team title. Ohashi was the favorite here and repeated as victor following a solid 200 IM performance yesterday. Ohashi managed to jackpot the bottom three but didn’t nab any points from either of LA’s athletes. Ohashi’s 15 points plus Shimizu’s third place 6 points give Tokyo 21 points total.
 
Toronto got second place points from Tessa Cieplucha and LA scored a total of 9 from 4th and 5th.

MEN’S 400 IM

Kosuke Hagino and Tomoru Honda went 1-2 in the event and raked in 17 points, giving the Frog Kings the edge it needed going into the skins. This race for Hagino places him at fourth fastest performer in ISL history, only behind Daiya Seto, Duncan Scott and Max Litchfield.
 
Toronto picked up fourth and seventh for a total of 7 points, with Aqua only scoring 3 as a result of Papastamos’ jackpotting.
 
LA still managed to score a solid 10 points coming from Heidtmann’s third place and Prenot’s fifth. Moving forward, it will be up to LA’s sprinters to make up the deficit in the skins to come out on top.

WOMEN’S 50 FREE SKINS

ROUND 1: Coleman (TOR), Weitzeil (LAC), Gastaldello (LAC), and Munoz (AQC) move on.

In round 1, not only did LA successfully get both Gastaldello and Weitzeil through to the next round, but they also successfully contributed to Tokyo getting cut early. Runa Imai and Chihiro Igarashi tied for fifth, losing their shot at those second and third round points. Joining the LA women were Michelle Coleman from Toronto and Lidon Muoz from Aqua.

ROUND 2: Weitzeil (LAC) and Gastaldello (LAC) move on.

 The LA duo of Weitzeil and Gastaldello executed perfectly what needed to happen for their team to comfortably extend their lead. Knocking out Coleman and Munez means that regardless of what happens in the last round, they win all of the points and have set the men up nicely for a potential victory by LA.

ROUND 3: Gastaldello (LAC) takes the win.

 It their last race of the meet, Gasaldello and Weitzeil went head to head in round 3, battling for the skins title. Either way it wound up, the 21 possible points would be going to LA but Beryl Gastaldello pulled out a 24.69 to take the top spot and 14 points. Weitzeil finished in a 25.54, to collect 7 points.

MEN’S 50 BACK SKINS

ROUND 1: Murphy (LAC), Ryan (TOR), Kawamoto (TOK), and Irie (TOK) move on.

It was Murphy’s race to lose the LA women’s massive skins point haul. Going into the race, Tokyo needed to boot out Murphy early in order have a shot at team victory for Match 3. While that didn’t happen, Tokyo did earn 2 spots in round 2, with Kawamoto and Irie joining Murphy and Ryan in the top 4.
 

ROUND 2: Murphy (LAC) and Irie (TOK) move on.

Murphy continued to dominate the skins in round 2, racing to a 23.61 victory. He finished more than a second before second place Ryosuke Irie who came in second with a 23.93. That meant that Toronto’s Shane Ryan and Tokyo’s Takeshi Kawamoto were out and the battle we watched playout all day; Tokyo v LA would face off in the final round.

ROUND 3: Murphy (LAC) takes the win by 0.08 over Irie (TOK).

While LA had the team title in the bag regardless of the outcome, Murphy narrowly defeated Irie in the final round of the men’s skins, repeating from Match 1 as winner. It wound up to be a close race for the two, with Murphy getting his hand on the wall in a 24.71 just 0.08 seconds ahead of Irie’s 24.79. With a double skins win for LA, they were able to make up the lead they had lost and claim the Match 3 title.

Final Team Scores

1. LA Current – 535.5
2. Tokyo Frog Kings – 506.5
3. Toronto Titans – 401.0
4. Aqua Centurions – 260.0