Anastasia Gorbenko Breaks 2 More Israeli Records in ISL Match #4

2021 INTERNATIONAL SWIMMING LEAGUE – SEASON 3, MATCH 4

• Saturday, September 4 – Sunday, September 5
• 12:00 pm – 2:00 pm EST (6:00 pm – 8:00 pm Local Time)
• Piscina Felice Scandone, Naples, Italy
• Short Course Meters (25m – SCM) Format
• ISL Season 3 Schedules, Start Times, & More
• Teams Competing: Cali Condors, LA Current, DC Trident, Aqua Centurions
• Omega Live Results
• Match 4 Preview

Israeli 18-year old Anastasia Gorbenko broke two more records on Saturday as her LA Current team took on day 1 of Match 3 of the 2021 ISL season.

Gorbenko swam 2:19.80 in the 200 breaststroke to break her own record set just a week ago, and followed that up with a 2:05.04 in the 200 IM to break her own record from a year ago.

200 Breaststroke

Gorbenko shaved three-tenths of a second off her old record to become the first-ever Israeli woman to go under 2:20 in the 200 breaststroke.

While her time was a little faster, her pacing in her new record-setting swim was quite different. She was a second slower on the second 50 meters of the swim, and that earlier control of her effort left her with way more gas on the final 50 meters, which was faster than both her second and third laps. It was also 1.2 seconds faster than her closing split from that prior race.

Gorbenko finished 3rd in her latest race behind Lilly King (2:17.66) and Emily Escobedo (2:19.02).

1. Lilly King, CAC – 2:17.66
2. Evgenia Chikunova, ENS – 2:17.82
3. Emily Escobedo, CAC – 2:18.63
4. Evgenia Chikunova, ENS – 2:19.21
5. Abbie Wood, NYB – 2:19.43
6. Anastasia Gorbenko, LAC – 2:19.80

Gorbenko is the 15th-ranked 200 breaststroker by the ISL’s internal rating system, though she has the 6th-fastest time in the league this season.

200 IM

In the 200 IM, Gorbenko won the race by a margin of more than two seconds, touching in 2:05.04 and jackpotting 6 points. That took almost a second off her old record of 2:05.98, which was set on November 9, 2020 during last year’s ISL season.

Note the gap in the backstroke splits of .98 seconds – which was actually more than the overall improvement on the record. While this seems like the opposite strategy from how she dropped in the 200 breaststroke, in fact it’s more likely representative of Gorbenko’s race strategy catching up to her overall improvements in the 100 back.

The versatile swimmer is fast in all four strokes, but the 100 back emerged as her best event over the summer. She became the first-ever Israeli woman to qualify for an Olympic swimming final in that 100 backstroke, placing 8th.

Gorbenko is now leading the league in the 200 IM this season – jumping Abbie Wood, who beat her in the teams’ week 1 matchup. In that matchup, Gorbenko started to work out her backstroke, with a 32.3 split, but didn’t fully realize it the way she did on Saturday.

1. Anastasia Gorbenko, LAC – 2:05.04
2. Abbie Wood, NYB – 2:05.63
3. Bailey Andison, DCT – 2:06.44

Gorbenko and the LA Current sit in 2nd place of Match 2 with 242 points, behind the defending champion Cali Condors.

Gorbenko currently holds Israel National Records in 16 different events.