2020 ISL Match 9 – Day 1 Live Recap

2020 International Swimming League – Match 9

• Monday, November 9th: 10AM – 12 noon CET (4AM – 6AM U.S. Eastern, 6PM – 8PM Japan)
• Tuesday, November 10th: 10AM – 12 noon CET (4AM – 6AM U.S. Eastern, 6PM – 8PM Japan)
• 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: Energy Standard/Iron/Tokyo Frog Kings/Toronto Titans

Match 9 is the 1st ISL match out of 2 today – the last 2 regular-season matches which will ultimately decide who moves onto the semifinals. 

All 4 teams in match 9 have a generally secure spot in the semifinals, but this match will determine their league standings going into the post-meet matchups. Currently, Energy Standard is tied for 2nd with the Cali Condors, Iron is tied for 4th with LA Current, and the Tokyo Frog Kings are tied for 6th place with the Toronto Titans. No matter the outcome, this will be a tie breaker for the Tokyo Frog Kings and the Toronto Titans.

You can read a full preview of this match here.

Recap: Annika Johnson, Live Analysis: Ben Dornan, Lydia Ferrari Kehoe

Women’s 100 Butterfly

Men’s 100 Butterfly

Chad Le Clos may have gone out in a slower 50 split than 2nd place Nicholas Santos and 3rd place Takeshi Kawamoto but he came back faster and ultimately secured the win for Energy Standard. This was a very tight race for 2nd between Iron’s Santos and Tokyo’s Kawamoto, with Santos snagging 2nd by less than .10.

Le Clos gains his third win of the season in this event with his fastest time yet, 49.33. Previously he had gone 49.39 (Match #6) and 49.48 (Match #7).Tom Shields is the only man under 49 this season in 48.94, which also smashed the ISL record of Dressel’s 49.10 from last season. Le Clos is edging down towards the low-49’s now which puts him in a great position ahead of the Semi-Finals.

Women’s 200 Backstroke

Toronto’s Lisa Bratton delivers another stellar performance here for her team, touching in 2:01.77 – 0.8 off her league-leading time this season of 2:00.99. The combo of her and Kylie Masse has been instrumental in collecting big points for their team, and they come away with 18 total here.

Energy’s Emily Seebohm didn’t allow them a 1-2 victory like they have had before, coming in at 2:01.79. She dips under her fastest time this season which was previously 2:02.10 from Match #6. Her lifetime best stands at 1:59.49 from 2015.

Note the absence of Hosszu here, who posted 2:06.86 in Match #2 for Iron. Her teammate Daria Ustinova mustered a slower time than that here to have her points jackpotted by Bratton. Jakabos also has her points stolen for Energy Standard.

Men’s 200 Backstroke

Kliment Kolesnikov is well and truly back on form here and he takes 2nd for Energy Standard in 1:49.26. He has a shaky start to this season and has gone 1:55.70, 1:52.56, and 1:50.10 the last three times he has raced this event at previous meets. 

Energy go 1-2 here for an important 17 point-win, with Rylov delivering a 1:48.62 for his team, just 0.3 off his best this season and 0.4 off Radoslaw Kawecki‘s league-leading time of 1:48.23. 

That’s a new Romanian National record for Robert Glinta (IRO). His own previous mark stood at 1:51.92 from 2016. He has now downed three national records in the 50, 100 and 200 back between this meet and Match #7. Despite that, he only takes away 4 points here for Iron – which is all they get as Toumarkin was jackpotted.

Women’s 200 Breaststroke

Kelsey Wog has now won 4 out of the 4 200 breaststrokes that she has swum this season, swimming to a 2:18.47 victory. Toronto pulled off a important 1-4 finish which with a 12-point jackpot swim from Wog and another 5 points from Ulyett to score 17 points total.
 
Tokyo’s Shimizu lost out to Wog by nearly 2 seconds at their first matchup back in Match 3 but closed the gap a little bit more here, finishing only 0.43 seconds behind Wog. Her teammate Imai solidified third place, bringing Tokyo’s total to a second place 13 for the swim.
 
Energy Standard and Iron each only had one point-scoring race as Iron’s Laukkanen and Energy’s Larson took 5th and 6th, respectively.

Men’s 200 Breaststroke

After an early lead from Energy Standard, Toronto is proving that they came this morning to race and have now tied Energy with 3/6 wins this morning. Anton McKee took the top spot in the 200 breast just as he did at Match 6. McKee wan’t quite quick enough to jackpot anyone here this morning but still secured top-level 9 points.

Like McKee, Erik Persson did what he needed to do for Toronto as he claimed second and helped ensure that Toronto scored more points than anyone else. Energy’s Shymanovich narrowly took third and Stupin tied for 7th, bringing in 8.5 points.

Tokyo actually outscored Energy though, winning 9 points from 4th and 5th, with Iron rounding out the field at 4.5.

Women’s 4×100 Freestyle Relay

The Energy Standard women have yet to lose this race this season. The sprinter-stacked team didn’t seem to have a tough time taking the victory hear, with Sarah Sjostrom closing the race out with a powerful but relaxed 52.83. She used Blume’s, Haughey’s, and Heemskerk’s lead from the start and got to the wall first, taking 24 points for Energy Standard.

Their secondary team of Banic, Harvey, Seebohm, and Davies pulled off a solid 4th and brought the team total to 34.

Energy Standard’s margin of victory in this relay has consistently been enough to make it seem as though they are unbeatable, and it will certainly be interesting to see how it plays out in the semi-finals.

Points Update

1. Energy Standard – 106.5 points
2. Tokyo Frog Kings – 80 points
3. Toronto Titans – 61 points
4. Iron – 39.5 points

Men’s 50 Freestyle

Notably absent from this event this morning were Energy Standard’s Florent Manaudou and Tokyo’s Vlad Morozov. Both with victories in the event this season, they sat out this morning likely to rest for the semi-finals. Morozov’s teammate Bruno Fratus made up for the absence and pulled of the victory for Tokyo, scoring 9 points. Shinri Shioura got in for third, allowing Tokyo to win the event with 15 points.

Energy Standard on the other hand definitely felt the effects of not swimming Manaudou as Shevtsov and le Clos ranked 6th and 7th, respectively to score 5 points total. It was a known risk to swim the two and didn’t affect their placement as top team overall thus far in the meet.

Women’s 50 Freestyle

Having just defeated a similar field at Match 7, Sarah Sjostrom was certainly the favourite going into this event and she certainly lived up to the expectation, winning the 50 freestyle ina 15-point jackpot.

The top four here is actually the same as was the 50 skins from Match 7, as was the top 2. Kromowidjojo was only 0.17 seconds behind Sjostrom, with Heemskerk and Henique battling it out for a 0.10 second difference between 3rd and 4th.

The only other swimmer to score points in the event was Michelle Coleman from Toronto as she got 4 points from 5th.

Men’s 200IM

Kosuke Hagino has long been a dominant force in the 200 IM and has continued his notoriety this year in the ISL, securing his second win today. After winning the event at Match 3 and then shifting to second at Match 5, he didn’t swim the race at the recent Match 8. His return here was well worth it as he notched 9 winning points for Tokyo.

Hagino’s teammate Honda, however, only scored 1 point from 8th which mean that Iron would outscore them, going 2-4 in the event with 12 points from Santos and Toumarkin.

Finlay Knox from Toronto has his best finish this far in the season, with a third place 1:55.49.

Women’s 200IM

Yui Ohashi raced to an unsurprising victory in the 200 IM this morning, having a nearly undefeated record this season. Only Melanie Margalis from Cali has been able to beat Ohashi yet this season, relegated her to second at Match 8. Ohashi was just over her season best of 2:05.04 this morning with her 2:05.10 victory.

Teramura for Tokyo made it a 1-2 effort, adding 7 points to Ohashi’s 12-points from first place. Following Teramura was Energy’s Shkurdai for third and Mary-Sophie Harvey was fifth, securing second place for their team.

Katinka Hosszu was fourth, still waiting on her first win this season in the 200 IM. The only other swimmer to score points here was Tessa Cieplucha from 6th for Toronto.

Men’s 50 Breaststroke

We felt fairly certain who would pick up the win here as Emre Sakci swam a nearly-world record breaking 50 breast at the recent Match 7. He came back here at Match 9, a little slower than he’s been but still fast enough to win the event with a 25.43. Despite adding time in the event, he still managed to jackpot nearly everyone in the field including both swimmers from Tokyo and both from Toronto.

That left Energy Standard’s Shymanovich and Lima to score points from second and third, yielding a total of 13 points for their team.

Women’s 50 Breaststroke

Following an upset at the last meet wherein Iron’s Hulkko overtook her for the top time, Benedetta Pilato for Energy Standard came back this morning and won the 50 breast. Pilato won the event in jackpot fashion, stealing points from teammate Larson, two Titans, and one Frog King.

Iron’s Hulkko managed to come second to Pilato here, with her teammate coming in fourth meaning Iron got 12 points. Reona Aoki was the only other swimmer to score points as she got 6 for Tokyo.

Men’s 4×100 Freestyle Relay

Energy Standard almost redeemed themselves after three straight losses in the men’s 4×100 freestyle, having lost to LA, Aqua and Toronto across their first three meets. Rylov, le Clos and Kolesnikov gave Energy the lead in the first three quarters of the race, leaving it to Shevtsov to bring it home. Brent Hayden for Toronto had what it took, however, to catch and surpass Shevtsov on the final leg, bringing it home in a 46.19; the second fastest split in the event.

The fastest split came from the second-place relay from Energy Standard. Kliment Kolesnikov swam the field’s only sub-46 time of 45.41.

Toronto’s winning team jackpotted their other team, bringing in a total of 20 points for the race. Since Toronto really only had 1 points scoring team, Energy Standard was able to outscore them here with 22 points total.

Women’s 50 Backstroke

With no clear standout in this event, it was really anyone’s race in the women’s 50 backstroke. Ultimately, Tokyo’s Natsumi Sakai got her hand on the first for a 10-point victory as she took 1 point from last place Lisa Bratton from Toronto. Tokyo went a solid 1-3 to score 16 points and win the event.

Melanie Henique has been a sprinter for Iron, along with Kromowidjojo and swam to a solid second place here with a 26.42. Iron was second overall with 10 points as Pilhatsch scored 3 from 6th place.

This was one of the weakest events so far for Energy Standard as they went 5-7, from Harvey and Davies, respectively.

Men’s 50 Backstroke

We haven’t seen many ties for first place this year but as Kawamoto and Ryan each swam a field-leading 23.10, they will split the 16 points for the top 2 in the 50 backstroke. By tying for first, the real key here is which team can get the higher finish from their second-place swimmer.

It was Tokyo who did that, Irie coming in third to score 6 points and helping to put score Toronto.

As they were in the women’s race, Energy Standard was rather weak here with a 5th and 8th place finish for a 5-point total in the events. While they didn’t need the points here to maintain their team lead, the 50 backstroke weakness for Energy will become more of a detriment as they go up against more competitive teams in the semi-finals and potentially finals.

Points Update

1. Energy Standard – 214 points
2. Tokyo Frog Kings – 177 points
3. Iron – 147 points
4. Toronto Titans – 115 points

Women’s 400 Freestyle

It looked like Siobhan Haughey from Energy Standard would pick up her third victory this season in the 400 freestyle as she flipped first at the 300 with a 2:59.03. Her lead was narrow, however, and wasn’t enough to let her hold off Leah Smith from Tokyo who made a final 100 push to take the win. Smith stole points from Iron’s Ludlow and Toronto’s Cieplucha, totalling 12 points for her team.

Haughey was second in a 3:59.18, fending off Andrusenko’s third place effort of 4:00.65. Tokyo won the event overall, scoring 17 points total, Energy followied that with 11, Iron has 6 and Toronto’s Egorova scored her team’s only points with 6.

Men’s 400 Freestyle

After narrowly escaping defeated last week upon accidentally stopping at the 350 mark for a few seconds at Match 7, Danas Rapsys returned today and pulled off a solid win with a 3:39.66. Rapsys finished 3.35 seconds ahead of second place Matsumoto for Tokyo and jackpotted Iron’s Leanardo Santos.

Despite a decisive victory, Rapsys wasn’t quite as fast as he has been this season. At Match 6 he was nearly 4 seconds faster with a 3:35.5 and was only a second slower that he was today with a 3:40.83 at Match 7 in a swim that included a 3-4 second delay.

Raspsys was joined by Litchfield from Energy Standard, bringing the team’s total in the event to 15. No other team was able to rival their point total, with Toronto scoring 10, Tokyo scoring 9, and Iron only scoring 3 considering Santos’ jackpotting.

Women’s 4×100 Medley Relay

Energy Standard was certainly able to throw together a top tier relay here, swimming Seebohm, Pilato, Shkurdai, and Sjostrom who have each had solid sessions today and were ready to come in strong for this race.

Energy Standard’s Seebohm took the early lead with a 56.68 backstroke split, ahead of Titan Kylie Masse’s 56.87. From there. Pilato swam a field leading 1:03.03 and as no one else was within a second of that split, Energy Standard had really secured the win. It was up to Shkrudai and Sjostrom to close out the race and they did so successfully, hitting 56.21 and 51.91 splits respectively.

Energy Standard made it a perfect team race as their secondary contingent swam to second place, meaning they totalled 32 points for the event. With the win by Energy Standard comes the ability to select the skins stroke for the meet and following Sarah Sjostrom’s Match 7 50 freestyle skins win against 2 of the 3 teams at Match 9, that seems like it could be a solid choice for them here.

Men’s 4×100 Medley Relay

In the final event of the day, Energy Standard was the team to beat. Their men’s 4×100 medley relay were able to copy the women’s performance and take the top spot in the event, securing their 18 points and the right to choose what stroke the men’s skins race would be swum in.

Kliment Kolesnikov fired off a solid 49.21 to open the race, with Ilya Shymanovich following up in a 56.00. As Chad le Clos and Sergey Shevtsov closed out the race with a 49.80 fly and 47.07 freestyle split, respectively, Energy Standard solidified the victory.

The victory, however, wasn’t as clear cut in the final 100 as it was the women. Markus Thormeyer for Tokyo made a solid bid for the win, out-swimming Energy’s Shevtsov by nearly a second with a 46.17. It wasn’t quite enough to take the win, still 0.50 seconds off Energy’s winning time.

With the ability to choose the skins stroke, it will may be down to freestyle or butterfly so that they can use Manaudou and/or le Clos in the race to claim the all-important skins point bounty tomorrow to close out Match 9.

Total Points After Day 1