Anastasia Gorbenko Downs Pair of Israeli Backstroke Records In Busy ISL Day

2021 INTERNATIONAL SWIMMING LEAGUE – SEASON 3, MATCH 16 – PLAYOFFS MATCH 5

• Thursday, November 25th – Friday, November 26th
• 8:00 pm – 10:00 pm local time; 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm EST
• Pieter van den Hoogenband Zwemstadion, Eindhoven, Netherlands
• Short Course Meters (25m – SCM) Format
• ISL Season 3 Schedules, Start Times, & More
• Live Results
• Teams Competing: Energy Standard, London Roar, LA Current, DC Trident

One of the most versatile swimmers in the ISL was at it again during the opening day of the fifth playoff match in Eindhoven, as LA Current swimmer Anastasia Gorbenko broke a pair of Israeli National Records while narrowly missing two more.

Gorbenko, who has primarily raced the breaststroke and individual medley events this season, stepped up and took on backstroke duty for the Current with the club missing Kathleen Baker.

Gorbenko first took on the 200 back—her first time racing the SCM event in four years, according to swimrankings—putting up a time of 2:05.36 to crush the Israeli Record of 2:06.97, set by Aviv Barzelay in August 2020.

The 18-year-old Gorbenko then carried on with her busy session, splitting 52.63 on the LA women’s 400 free relay, narrowly missing a pair of her own Israeli records in the women’s 50 back and 50 breast, and then lowering another National Record on the lead-off leg of the women’s 400 medley relay.

Gorbenko, who was an 2021 Olympic finalist in the women’s 100 back, clocked 57.49 on the opening leg of the Current’s medley relay, breaking her 100 back national record of 58.37 set on home soil in the summer of 2020.

In the 50 back, Gorbenko clocked 26.69 to fall just shy of the national record she set in October on the FINA World Cup (26.63). In the 50 breast, she took second in the field in 29.68, .15 off her all-time Israeli mark of 29.53 from the second playoff match on Nov. 14.

Gorbenko’s versatility has been on full display this season, proving to be an invaluable asset for LA with the ability to step in and put up points wherever she’s called upon.

In Season 3 of the ISL, Gorbenko has now raced the 100 free, 200 free, 50 back, 200 back, 50 breast, 100 breast, 200 breast, 100 IM, 200 IM and 400 IM individually, plus the butterfly skins, and has also swum the back, breast and free legs on LA’s medley relays. (There’s also a good chance she’ll add another individual event, the 100 back, to that list on Day 2.)

The reigning long and short course European champion in the women’s 200 IM, Gorbenko has now scored 193 points for the LA Current this season. Prior to Day 1 of Playoff Match 5, she ranked 29th in the ISL with 179 points, having put up 14 in her five-event mission on Thursday.