As the Rome-based Aqua Centurions team in the International Swimming League (ISL) plays catchup on announcing its roster for the 2019 season, the latest announced athlete to join the team is German swimmer Philip Hientz.
Of the 6 announced swimmers on the team of Federica Pellegrini, 3 are German – likely indicative of athletes that were originally protected as part of the German OneFlow team that was originally announced for the 2019 season, but will now not compete until 2020.
The 28-year old Heintz is the German Record holder in the men’s 200 IM in both long course and short courses meters. He finished 6th in that race, his specialty event, at the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
While his progress in his primary race has stagnated a little (he hasn’t been a best time in long course in almost 2 years, and in short course in almost 3 years in the 200 IM), he did drop times in other events in 2018 that will make him more versatile for the ISL format. For example, in the 400 IM, at the Stockholm Open in April, he swam a 4:14.27 (long course). His previous best time was a 4:16.91 from the 2017 edition of that meet.
His times have also been generally better in short course meters than in long course meters, which also makes him a good fit for this format: the 2019 season is scheduled entirely in short course meters (as compared to the Olympic long course meters).
Heintz’s Best Times:
| LCM | SCM | |
| 50 free | 23.10 | 22.59 |
| 100 free | 49.81 | 48.22 |
| 200 free | 1:47.93 | 1:43.13 |
| 100 breast | 1:03.01* | 59.4 |
| 200 breast | 2:16.09 | 2:06.90 |
| 100 fly | 51.65* | 51.59 |
| 200 fly | 1:57.31 | 1:51.79 |
| 200 IM | 1:55.76 | 1:51.79 |
| 400 IM | 4:14.27* | 4:02.84 |
* – Best time in 2018 or 2019
Announced European Rosters So Far:
Aqua Centurions – Rome
| Aqua Centurions – Rome | |
| Federica Pellegrini | Luca Dotto |
| Sarah Koehler | Santo Condorelli |
| Franziska Hentke | Philip Heintz |
Iron Swim Budapest – Hungary
| Iron Swim Budapest – Hungary | |
| Katinka Hosszu | Robert Glinta |
| Alia Atkinson | David Verraszto |
| Ranomi Kromowidjojo | Vlad Morozov |
| Fanny Lecluyse | Jesse Puts |
| Jessica Vall | Jeremy Desplanches |
| Kira Toussaint | PJ Stevens |
| Mie Nielsen | Arno Kamminga |
| Jenna Laukkanen | Pieter Timmers |
| Kimberly Buys | |
| Kim Busch | |
London Roar – London
| London Roar – London | |
| Cate Campbell | Adam Peaty |
| Bronte Campbell | James Guy |
| Emma McKeon | Kyle Chalmers |
| Minna Atherton | Elijah Winnington |
| Holly Barratt | Alex Graham |
| Jess Hansen | Yuri Kisil |
| Taylor McKeown | Matthew Wilson |
| Siobhan-Marie O’Connor | Finlay Knox |
| Jeanette Ottesen | Cameron McEvoy |
| Sydney Pickrem | Kirill Prigoda |
| Mireia Belmonte | Vini Lanza |
| Marie Wattel | Duncan Scott |
| Sarah Vasey | |
Energy Standard – Turkey/France
| Energy Standard – Turkey/France | |
| Sarah Sjostrom | Chad le Clos |
| Femke Heemskerk | Ilya Shymanovich |
| Emily Seebohm | Danas Rapsys |
| Kierra Smith | Andrei Minakov |
| Kayla Sanchez | Evgeny Rylov |
| Rebecca Smith | Anton Chupkov |
| Charlotte Bonnet | Florent Manaudou |
| Fantine Lesaffre | |
| Penny Oleksiak | |
| Imogen Clark | |
Question:
If only so many athletes can participate in an individual meet, when they go to finals in LAs Vegas and win the finals, do they all split the Grand Prix or just the ones who raced there?