Kliment Kolesnikov on Bouncing Back From “Worst Time Ever” to Top Form (Video)

2020 INTERNATIONAL SWIMMING LEAGUE – SEMIFINAL #1

Reported by Lydia Ferrari Kehoe.

MEN’S 200 BACK

We widely expected a battle of the backstrokers in this semifinal. So it’s especially impressive that Tokyo’s Ryosuke Irie gets the win here over two returning league final teams that are strong in back.

Irie has been so rock solid consistent this year, with three second-place finishes and one third-place in the 200 back. He’s been within 1:49.1 and 1:49.5 with every single swim. Today, he broke that streak with his first ISL win in the 200 back, going 1:49.02 to beat a stellar field.

The entire top five were within about half a second in a brutal race, so Irie only wound up with one jackpot. He remains the #4 performer in the ISL so far this year, beating #3 Evgeny Rylov and #5 Kliment Kolesnikov head-to-head.

Energy Standard was 2nd and 3rd, still good for overall points, but disappointing given the strength of their backstroking group. Kolesnikov did improve his season-best by two tenths, remaining #5 in the league for the year.

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About Coleman Hodges

Coleman Hodges

Coleman started his journey in the water at age 1, and although he actually has no memory of that, something must have stuck. A Missouri native, he joined the Columbia Swim Club at age 9, where he is still remembered for his stylish dragon swim trunks. After giving up on …

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