Adam Peaty Will Swim All 3 Breaststroke Distances in ISL Debut in Budapest

2019 INTERNATIONAL SWIMMING LEAGUE: BUDAPEST

• Group B, Match 2
• Saturday, October 26 – Saturday, October 27, 2019
• 6:00-8:00 PM Local Time – UTC+2 (12:00-2:00 PM, U.S. Eastern Time)
• Duna Arena, Budapest, Hungary
• Short Course Meters (SCM) format
• ESPN3 Live Stream Links:
  • Day 1
  • Day 2
• Group B: Iron, LA Current, London Roar, New York Breakers
• Start Lists (pre-meet)

Day 1 Lane Assignments:

• Lanes 1 & 2 – London Roar
• Lanes 3 & 4 – Iron
• Lanes 5 & 6 – New York Breakers
• Lanes 7 & 8 – LA Current

In his ISL debut, London Roar star breaststroker Adam Peaty has 4 individual entries, including a rare 200 breaststroke, on his schedule.

Peaty, the World Record holder in the 50 and 100 meter breaststrokes in long course, is a much better 200 breaststroker than he often shows: his best in long course is a 2:08.3, done in 2015. He’s only swum the race once since early 2016, however, and that was at the 2017 European Short Course Championships, where he was 13th in prelims and missed out on the final, swimming 2:07.3.

ISL’s internal media has been promoting Peaty’s chances at MVP this week, and while the presence of a star of his caliber is certainly exciting, the odds of him winning MVP are pretty slim – even if he were to sweep the breaststroke races, and his 400 medley relay won, that still only leaves him with 31.5 points. That would have put him 9th in the MVP standings in Lewisville. A 4-race swimmer taking MVP against the likes of Vlad Morozov (6 races) and Emma McKeon (6 races) is a tall task in this format.

Peaty, while still one of the biggest swimming stars in the world, is not a pure-lock in short course even over 100 meters as he would be in long course. But, Peaty’s underwater pullouts, while improved, are not as strong as his over-water swimming in relative terms, and in short course breaststroke, the pullouts become front-and-center in importance.

Peaty, in fact, has been hyper-critical of short course swimming in general, saying last year “Short course is pretty much dead to me. I don’t really care. People can do what they want, but I know some of them can’t convert to long course.”

Regardless, Peaty’s presence brings a lot of caché to a team that already has plenty of it after their week 3 win in Lewisville. The return of he, James Guy, and Mireia Belmonte to the Roar lineup, along with some key absences for 2nd-place Current, should give the Roar another comfortable victory in Budapest.

Other Key Entry Changes:

• The Roar are back to the sister act, Bronte and Cate Campbell, in the 50 free skins race at the end of the meet. Those were the 2 originally entered last week as well, but a last-minute sub of Emma McKeon for Bronte paid off: McKeon’s endurance carried her to the final, where she was eventually beat out by Ranomi Kromowidjojo for the title. Still, that’s a big points-haul from an unexpected place. If the team title is competitive late in the meet, we’ll have to watch and see if Roar stick with Bronte and Cate, or switch back to McKeon, especially given that the Roar once again have both Campbell sisters in the mixed 400 free relay that comes shortly before the Skins race. Neither Skins winner last week, Vlad Morozov or Kromowidjojo, swam the mixed 400 free relay.
• The New York Breakers are without both of their individual backstrokers from last week, Chris Reid and Jacob Pebley, but have picked up Grigory Tarasevich and shifted Canadian Record holder Markus Thormeyer from relay-only to individual swimmer. The Breakers need someone to give them a spark after getting thumped last week in Lewisville, and while changes abound all over their lineup, that one seems like the biggest opportunity for a full-scale shift.
• The Breakers have also dropped Michael Andrew from the 50 breaststroke, though he still has 7 races: he’s been entered in the 50 backstroke on day 1 instead, giving him 4 swims on the first day of competition, but none back-to-back like he had last week.
• Iron’s Katinka Hosszu, who was 3rd in the Lewisville MVP standings, said after the meet that she was ready to race more. In pre-meet entries, she’s backed that up with 7 races: 1 more than she had last week. This week, she’ll drop the 50 back in favor of the 200 free, and add a day 2 entry in the 100 back to an already-packed schedule. She’s also scheduled to race the 200 IM, 400 IM, 200 back, 400 medley relay, and 200 fly.
• The LA Current, who after the losses this week of Kathleen Baker and Ella Eastin became thin in the IM races, will use Katie McLaughlin in the 400 IM this week alongside Bailey Andison. Last week, Eastin finished 3rd and Anastasia Gorbenko was 7th. Gorbenko is still at the meet, but will swim a relay and the 200 free on day 1 instead. McLaughlin’s best time in the 400 long course IM is 4:50.46 at a non-championship meet.