2020 ISL Match 5 – Day 2 Live Recap

International Swimming League – Match 5

• Friday, October 30th: 3-5pm CET/9-11am U.S. Central
• Saturday, October 30th: 12-2pm CET/6-8am U.S. Central
• Duna Arena – Budapest, Hungary
• Short Course Meters (SCM) format
• ISL Technical Handbook
• 2020 ISL Scoring Format
• 2020 ISL Prize Money and Bonuses
• How To Watch
• Omega Results
• Teams: London Roar/DC Trident/LA Current/Tokyo Frog Kings

Day 2 of Match 5 continues, kicking off with the women’s 100m freestyle. This match has delivered all the excitement we hoped it would so far, with 3 of the top 5 teams from our Week 2 Power Ranks battling it out for the top spot.

Yesterday saw London Roar’s women’s side collecting a total of 151.0 points for their team, largely helped by 2 huge wins in the 4×100 medley and freestyle relays. LA Current’s men’s 4×100 medley relay win secured the skins choice for them, which should give us some exciting swimming at the end of this match. The women’s skins will be breaststroke, while the men will do battle in the butterfly.

Recap: Lydia Ferrari Kehoe, Race Analysis: James Sutherland

Team Scores After Day 1

LANES

• DC Trident – Lanes 1 & 2
• London Roar – Lanes 3 & 4
• LA Current – 5 & 6
• Tokyo Frog Kings – 7 & 8

Day 2 Events

Women’s 100 Free

Beryl Gastaldello delivered a huge 55.84 in the 100m butterfly on day 1, the fastest time in this ISL season so far. She continues her incredible run through the season, producing her fastest swim in 2020 and nearly the top swim of the season (Sarah Sjostrom was 51.17). She leads a 1-3 with Abbey Weitzeil for the Current, which they needed after having a sizeable deficit to the Roar coming in.

Freya Anderson backed up her 51.51 from yesterday’s 4×100 freestyle relay with a 51.43 here.

The Frog Kings, meanwhile, struggle with only four points on the board, as Gastaldello jackpotted the final two swimmers. They came in trailing LA by just 2.5 points for second

Men’s 100 Free

Although it was his slowest flat start of the season, Zach Apple didn’t need his best swim of the season to comfortably win this one, while Duncan Scott charged home from seventh at the turn to get a valuable second place for London.

Scott went 46.66 in Match #2, 0.5 off his lifetime best of 46.09 which he set during the Grande Finale last year. He’s 0.2 off his fastest mark from this season here, but still collects 7 points for the Roar. 

Marco Ferreira and Kristian Gkolomeev inch the Current away from the Frog Kings in the race for second, outscoring them 10-7. The Trident, while they are a distant fourth, was the top-scoring team in the event with Ian Finnerty grabbing sixth in 47.40. The field was relatively tight — with first and eighth only one second apart — so there are no jackpots.

Women’s 200 Fly

This event is Tokyo’s bread and butter, and they took full advance with Hasegawa and Shimizu going 1-2 (Hasegawa was just off her season-best from the last match of 2:03.12, as well as her lifetime best of 2:02.96 from 2017).

Shimizu was the winner of the 200m breaststroke yesterday, holding off Roar’s Annie Lazor for the top spot. Her contribution here boosts her team significantly.

Tokyo combined for 26 points, with jackpots, just like they did in Match 3. The Frog Kings now pass the Current for second in the overall standings by half a point, as LA got outscored by 19. The Roar had both of their swimmers jackpotted.

Men’s 200 Fly

Tom Shields threw down the hammer on the third 50, and managed to hold off Lanza which proved to be a 12-point swing in the LA Current’s favor. His dominance has been so prevalent every time he has raced for the Current, and this swim means he has gone 3-for-3 in this event with all of the swims coming within 0.15 of each other.

Shields put up 19 points, jackpotting four swimmers, while the Roar get a mere seven with Lanza second. Shields was .02 quicker than he was in winning the last match.

The Frog Kings, despite being the only club to have two swimmers score, lose substantial ground to LA in the race for second.

Naoki Mizunuma for Tokyo was only .06 away from getting jackpotted as well, which would’ve given Shields 24 points.

Same as the last event, Roar was jackpotted again here meaning they’ve had two consecutive swims with no points. Roar’s James Guy was 3 seconds off his best time here from last year’s European Championships in Glasgow (1:51.73).

Women’s 100 Back

Kira Toussaint makes it two in a row in the event, just off her 56.24 from the last match, as London leads the tightly contested event with 10.5 points.

She held off Amy Bilquist of DC Trident, winner of the 200m backstroke yesterday (2:01.29). Bilquist had serious back-end speed yesterday, taking down Toussaint in the final 50.

The swimmers were about as evenly spread as it gets, with no one jackpotted. The LA Current were the only club to really lose any ground, only putting up 6.5 points as the Frog Kings inch closer to tying them for second place.

Men’s 100 Back

The reason LA didn’t select backstroke for the men’s skins: Guilherme Guido. He continues his dominance in the backstroke events here with another win for Roar. After leading off the medley relay in 49.50 yesterday, he hits 49.57 to hold off Ryan Murphy and narrowly miss his South American Record of 49.45.

Murphy and Ryosuke Irie were both incredibly fast coming home in 25.6s, as three men go sub-50 in the race for the first time this season. The teams were evenly distributed again, with no one earning a discernible advantage.

Women’s 100 IM

It was a big event for Tokyo and LA, as they continue to jockey for second position. Runa Imai wins the race for the second time this season, while Gorbenko and Weitzeil were a solid 2-3 for the Current.

Roar’s Maria Kameneva only managed a 5th place finish here after winning this event in their first match, even though she was only 0.3 off that winning mark (58.86). Alia Atkinson didn’t race this event today after coming second in it to her teammate in Match #2. That combo earned them 17 points that week, compared with 8.5 here in a slightly faster field.

The Trident really struggled with only two points on the board.

Men’s 100 IM

No one saw this coming, as Andi Murez, who had been third and fourth in this race so far this season, pulls out a big win in 1:53.58 for a new Israeli record. She smashed her previous record of 1:54.67 here by over a second.

By jackpotting two swimmers, Murez and Katie McLaughlin put up 15 points, gaining four more on London.

Freya Anderson continues to prove her value for the Roar, blazing home in 27.79 to take second and after turning fifth at the 150. Tokyo was solid with 11 points by going 3-4.

Men’s 200 Free

Matsumoto, Scott, and Scheffer had all won this event earlier this season, and the showdown lived up to the billing. Tokyo’s Katsuhiro Matsumoto led early, and then after Scott split 25.8 on the third 50, the Japanese freestyler came back in 26-flat to give the Frog Kings 14 points on the event.

Matsumoto’s 1:41.77 is the top time this season. Fernando Scheffer got out-touched by Zach Apple by .03 for third, as the Current only put seven on the board. They now lead Tokyo by just 4.5 points and trail London by 35.0.

Women’s 50 Fly

Beryl Gastaldello continues her winning ways for the LA Current, claiming the 50 fly for the third straight time this season. She was just two-tenths off her ISL Record of 24.75 from the opening match. She now leads the MVP race by 3 points ahead of Tom Shields, after 33 of 39 events.

Alyssa Marsh took fourth, giving the Current 17 points. After winning the 100IM earlier in this match and earning Tokyo 10 points, Runa Imai is disqualified here. Suzuka Hasegawa was jackpotted, giving them -3 points for the race, or a 20-point loss to LA, which is pretty devastating at this point in the match. They now trail the Current by 24.5.

Men’s 50 Fly

After a tough result in the women’s event, Tokyo bounces back in a big way with Takeshi Kawamoto beating out Shields in 22.38 — less than two-tenths off his Asian Record of 22.19. By going 1-4, the Frog Kings lead the event with 15 points, but still trail LA by 20.5 in the team race.

Kawamoto and Shields were both faster than Match 3, where they placed second and fourth, respectively. Meanwhile, LA continues to chip away at London’s lead, with Shields and Dylan Carter combining for 11 points to the Roar’s eight.

Women’s 100 Breast

Alia Atkinson, the world record holder (1:02.36), leads a much needed 1-2 for London in the women’s 100 breast, becoming the third woman to crack 1:04 this season.

Her teammate Annie Lazor took second, giving the Roar 16 points for the event and bringing their lead back to 35 points. Miho Teramura won this race for Tokyo in Match 3, but finished back in fourth, giving Tokyo eight points for the race. LA had six, which hurts them in the charge for first but doesn’t do much damage in battling the Frog Kings for second.

Men’s 100 Breast

It’s a pretty shocking result from Yasuhiro Koseki, who goes eight-tenths faster than Match 3 to handily defeat Adam Peaty. Koseki’s 56.11 is the top time of the season, and he also scored one jackpot for 10 points.

Peaty was about half-a-second slower than he was in winning Match 2, but London does well as they increase their advantage over LA by three more points.

Club Standings After 34 Events

4×100 Mixed Free Relay

Club Standings After 35 Events

Women’s 400 IM

It was a decisively dominant performance from Yui Ohashi for Tokyo, finishing just three-tenths off her winning time from Match 3 in 4:26.48.

Sakiko Shimizu made it 1-2 for the Frog Kings, as they combine for a massive 17 points, bringing their deficit to LA back down to 19.5. Aimee Willmott and Sydney Pickrem were a solid 3-4 for London, as they put up 11 points while the Current struggle with only four.

Current’s Helena Gasson sets a new New Zealand national record here in 4:32.48, the previous mark being 4:34.05 from Helen Norfolk, which stood for 12 years.

Men’s 400 IM

Kosuke Hagino runs away with the win in a time of 4:01.52, eclipsing the top time of the season he set in Match 3 (4:02.58). He also managed to jackpot one swimmer, Tom Dean, which is tough to do in this race.

The Frog Kings went 1-2 in their last match with Tomoru Honda, but he was beaten out by the DC duo of Abrahm DeVine and Tommy Cope, giving the Trident their best event performance in a while.

Tokyo and DC score 15 and 13 points in this event, respectively, while LA and London put up five and four. Tokyo has narrowed their deficit to London down to 9.5 points heading to the skins, while the Current trail the Roar by 28.

Women’s 50 Skins – Breaststroke

Round 1:

It’s an ISL first! Lazor and Gorbenko tie for fourth, meaning five swimmers will advance to Round 2. This is big for the Current, who would’ve been eliminated altogether if Gorbenko had gone any slower.

Alia Atkinson was fast for London in 29.61.

Round 2:

Round 3:

Atkinson goes wire-to-wire in the skins, narrowly holding off Gorbenko to win all three rounds and score a monstrous 33 points for the event.

Gorbenko takes second, putting Current up 18.5, while Lazor also had a valuable 10.5 for the Roar. Tokyo limps in with six points. London is now way ahead heading into the final event, and LA is up by 24 on Tokyo for second.

Men’s 50 Skins – Butterfly

Round 1:

In butterfly’s skins debut, Tom Shields delivers once again and puts up a lifetime best 22.32 for first, as LA and Tokyo both get two men through, leaving London locked out.

Round 2:

Kawamoto gets to the fall first in 23.06, while Shields rebounds after a poor start to get second and move on to the final. Shields appears to have sewn up the MVP victory too, edging just one point ahead of second place Gastaldello (55.5 + 54.5 respectively)

Round 3:

Shields was slow off the blocks again, but his underwater work off the turn put him in the lead and it wasn’t close from there. He defeats Kawamoto by six-tenths in 23.24, capping off a superb meet.

Shields scores 31 points for the event, followed by Kawamoto with 22.5. With Maxime Rooney making the second round, LA combines for 43.5 points in the event, finishing just 14.5 back of London for the match. Tokyo also made a strong push with 32.5.

Club Standings After Day 2: