Duncan Scott Entered in 9 Races, Including Skins, Pre-Meet for European Derby

2019 INTERNATIONAL SWIMMING LEAGUE – EUROPEAN DERBY

• Saturday, November 23 – Sunday, November 24, 2019
• 5:00-7:00 PM Local Time (12:00 noon – 2:00 PM, U.S. Eastern Time)
• London Aquatics Centre – London, England
• Short Course Meters (SCM) format
• European franchises: Aqua Centurions, Energy Standard, Iron, London Roar
• Start Lists

Start Lists have been released for day 1 of the 2019 International Swimming League’s European derby meet that kicks off at 5PM local time and noon U.S. Eastern time on Saturday in London.

Among the swimmers making their ISL debut this weekend is Duncan Scott of the London Roar, who they hope will make up for a few key absences for their roster. With a full team for the Las Vegas final, London looks almost unbeatable, and a lot of that hinges on the new-found versatility of Scott.

London looks ready to take advantage of that this weekend, pre-entering him in 9 races: the 400 IM, 50 free, as the anchor of a 400 medley relay, the men’s 400 free relay, the 100 free, the 400 free, on the mixed 400 free relay, in the 200 fly, and in the skins event. That skins race will be crucial for London, as it’s their primary weakness in this format. Energy Standard, with Ben Proud and Florent Manaudou, have 2 swimmers that will almost always make the semis, and often the finals as well, in the triple-points race.

Scott is London’s best chance at combating that. Similar to Emma McKeon in the women’s race or his London teammate Kyle Chalmers, who won the skins race in Budapest but isn’t at this meet, if he can survive the first round, he’s got a shot at winning the whole thing.

Scott is not entered in the 200 free individually, which is his best event and one where he took a World Championship bronze medal this summer. But, London has been among the most active teams in mid-meet lineup changes, so don’t be surprised in the least if the schedule that he’s entered in pre-meet doesn’t at all resemble the schedule that he actually races.

Along that same vein, London have Cate and Bronte Campbell entered in the women’s skins race, which they’ve done at every meet before eventually dropping Bronte for McKeon. With little besides bragging rights and individual prize money on the line at this meet (London and Energy Standard are both all-but-assured their slot in the finale), this could be a chance to find out what Bronte Campbell is capable of in the skins format to maximize information available for decision making for the finale.

Other Notables:

• Emily Seebohm will be Energy Standard’s 2nd entry in the women’s 50 breaststroke, alongside Imogen Clark. Clark swam well in that race to place 3rd in the team’s last outing in Naples, but Kierra Smith, more of a 200 meter specialist, finished 8th in the race. Seebohm has a lot of speed and a lot of versatility, so she has a puncher’s chance of doing better than 8th in that race.
• Siobhan-Marie O’Connor will be busy for London Roar in her debut as well. Right now, she’s scheduled to swim the 50 breast, 100 breast, 200 breast, 200 IM, women’s 400 free relay, and women’s 400 medley relay. She has the versatility to swim a lot of races, and her addition to the free relays make the already-lethal London relays even deeper – with 1-2 there looking like a serious possibility now.