2020 INTERNATIONAL SWIMMING LEAGUE – SEMIFINAL #2
- Sunday, November 15th: 6-8pm CET/11-1pm U.S. Central
- Monday, November 16th: 6-8pm CET/11-1pm 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: Cali Condors / LA Current / Iron / Toronto Titans
- Startlists Day 2
- Results Day 1
LA Current swimmer Tom Shields continued to tear up the pool in Budapest early on in the second day of the ISL’s second semi-final, breaking his five-year-old American Record in the 200 butterfly.
Shields, 29, used a blistering front-half to finish in a time of 1:49.02, sneaking under his previous record of 1:49.05 set at the 2015 Duel in the Pool.
The 2016 American Olympian remains the fourth-fastest swimmer in history, and records the 11th-fastest swim of all-time.
All-Time Performers, Men’s 200 Fly (SCM)
| Rank | Swimmer | Time | Year |
| 1 | Daiya Seto (JPN) | 1:48.24 | 2018 |
| 2 | Chad Le Clos (RSA) | 1:48.32 | 2018 |
| 3 | Laszlo Cseh (HUN) | 1:49.00 | 2015 |
| 4 | Tom Shields (USA) | 1:49.02 | 2020 |
| 5 | Kaio Almeida (BRA) | 1:49.11 | 2009 |
Split Comparison
All of the difference for Shields today came on the middle 100, where he was over a second quicker than five years ago.
| Shields, 2015 | Shields, 2020 |
| 24.33 | 24.65 |
| 28.45 (52.78) | 27.59 (52.24) |
| 28.28 (1:21.06) | 28.02 (1:20.26) |
| 27.99 (1:49.05) | 28.76 (1:49.02) |
Shields had set his previous season-best of 1:49.78 during Match 10, which ranked as the top time of the ISL season before his performance today. Prior to that, he hadn’t broken 1:50 since October of 2017, with his best swim of the 2019 campaign coming in at 1:50.25.
Finishing second in the race was Cali Condor swimmer Eddie Wang, who broke the world junior record for the third time in the last month in 1:49.89.
A swim of this magnitude was certainly in the offing for Shields after what he did on day one. The Cal grad produced the second-fastest 100 fly split in history on the men’s medley relay (48.14), and also had a strong swim in the individual race (49.01).
I’m so happy to see Tom Shields succeeding. It feels like people have underestimated his capabilities for years. He’s such a stand-up guy. I had the honor of meeting him at a swim clinic a few years ago and got to have a conversation with him. He was so respectful and kind. I still have his autograph on my swim bag and I relish all of his swims. I’m glad that more people are seeing now how hard Tom works and I’m glad the results are showing
I’ll be rooting for Shields this coming year. In my years of being around swimming, he has some of the best underwaters I’ve seen in my life. Yes, at times even better than the GOAT (check out 100 fly at 2016 trials for a side by side comparison).
Bodes well for the 100 fly LCM
Agreed. Normally the piano only has come in the 2 Fly. Maybe he can lick the piano too in the coming year.
His ISL performance has turned me into a Tom Shields fan.
1:49.0 is WAAAAAYYYY better that 2:07!
I did the math. It checks out.
Awesome swim.
Eddie Wang has tons of time to improve. He is gonna be super fast in the future.
Super fast now. In the future, super-duper fast.