2021 ISL PLAYOFFS – MATCH 4
- Saturday, November 20 – Sunday, November 21
- 7:00 pm – 9:00 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
- Day 1 Start Lists
- Day 2 Start Lists
- Day 1 Live Recap
- Results
- Teams Competing: Cali Condors, London Roar, LA Current, Iron
FINAL TEAM STANDINGS
- London Roar – 534.5 points
- Cali Condors – 474.5 points
- LA Current – 438.5 points
- Iron – 327.5 points
The London Roar captured the team victory in Match 4 of the 2021 ISL playoffs in Eindhoven on Sunday, beating both the Cali Condors and the LA Current, two teams that have beaten them earlier this season. The London Roar is now the 4th team to win a match in the playoffs this season, a fact that helps the Toronto Titans more than anyone else.
How does the victory by London help Toronto? Mostly because the LA Current also placed 3rd in the match, meaning the Current only holds a 1-point lead over the Titans as the final week of playoffs gets underway. If the LA Current places 3rd in their next match they will finish the playoffs with 8 points, and if the Toronto Titans finish 2nd in their upcoming match they will finish the playoffs with 8 points, meaning there will have to be a tie-breaker–what that will mean, we don’t know yet, though per previous tie-breaker rules, the edge might go to the LA Current.
2021 ISL Playoffs Match Results
Match 1
- Cali Condors
- London Roar
- DC Trident
- Iron
Match 2
- LA Current
- London Roar
- Toronto Titans
- Aqua Centurions
Match 3
- Energy Standard
- Toronto Titans
- Aqua Centurions
- DC Trident
Match 4
- London Roar
- Cali Condors
- LA Current
- Iron
ISL Playoffs – Upcoming Matches
Match 5
- Energy Standard, London Roar, LA Current, DC Trident
Match 6
- Cali Condors, Toronto Titans, Aqua Centurions, Iron
Duncan Scott Snags MVP, First-Ever for the London Roar
London Roar’s Duncan Scott won the MVP honors for Match 4 of the 2021 ISL playoffs with 60, making him the first swimmer ever from the London Roar to capture the Match MVP honors. Scott won a total of 3 individual events, the 200 IM, 400 IM, and 400 freestyle, for a total of 53 points. Scott’s 7 other points came from the 100 IM, where he placed 2nd, lowering his own British Record in the race. Scott also came within half a second of his 2019 British Record in the 400 IM, which he won by 7 seconds on Sunday in Eindhoven.
This weekend’s MVP standings were dominated by the London Roar who had 5 of the top-10 match MVPs. Scott ended up just 4 points ahead of LA’s Ryan Murphy who finished with 56 points, though Murphy had the backstroke skins to benefit him and buoy his point totals (35 of Murphy’s points came from the skins).
Scott is an interesting case on the London team in that, despite his versatility and the dominance he has shown on relays in the past, the Roar did not use Scott on a single relay this weekend. Scott is one of the most versatile swimmers in the ISL, though his best events remain middle-distance freestyle and IM.
Dressel Returns, Fighting to Find Form
It is safe to say that Cali Condor Caeleb Dressel is the biggest star in the ISL. His absence in the first playoffs match was apparent, though the Condors still captured the team victory and defeated season 1 champs Energy Standard. Needless to say, Dressel’s return to racing in Eindhoven this weekend marked an exciting turning point in the 2021 ISL post-season. However, Dressel was not on his typical form.
To get things started, it was a bit surprising to see Dressel place 3rd in the 50 freestyle in a 21.04, falling to London’s Kyle Chalmers and LA’s Kristian Gkolomeev. Dressel did not swim a single butterfly race this weekend, opting instead for the 50 freestyle and 100 IM as his only individual events, as well as the men’s 4 x 100 freestyle relay (47.26, flying start), the men’s 4 x 100 medley relay (fly – 49.60, flying start), and the mixed 4 x 100 medley relay (fly – 50.76, flying start).
Dressel should remain in Eindhoven for the next 3 weeks until the conclusion of the 2021 ISL Final, so he has plenty of time yet to find his form. Though Dressel set 2 World Records (100 fly, 47.78; 100 IM, 49.22) at the 2020 ISL Grand Final, we probably won’t see anything quite of that scale on the weekend of December 3rd and 4th. Even so, by next weekend, we might expect to see Dressel in more than 2 individual events, swimming closer to the blazing-fast in-season times he is known for.
Team Standings – 2021 Playoffs
| Rank | Team | Matches Played | Match 1 | Match 2 | Match 3 | Match 4 | Total Points |
| =1 | Energy Standard | 2 | 3 | 4 | 7 | ||
| =1 | Cali Condors | 2 | 4 | 3 | 7 | ||
| =1 | London Roar | 2 | 3 | 4 | 7 | ||
| 4 | LA Current | 2 | 4 | 2 | 6 | ||
| 5 | Toronto Titans | 2 | 2 | 3 | 5 | ||
| =6 | Aqua Centurions | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | ||
| =6 | DC Trident | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | ||
| 8 | Iron | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Final MVP Standings
- Duncan Scott (LON) – 60 points
- Ryan Murphy (LAC) – 56 points
- Lilly King (CAC) – 44.5 points
- Kyle Chalmers (LON) – 44 points
- Kira Toussaint (LON) – 43.5 points
- Emma McKeon (LON) – 39 points
- Kelsi Dahlia (CAC) – 38 points
- Christian Diener (LON) – 37.5 points
- Nic Fink (CAC)/Hali Flickinger (CAC) – 36 points
- —
If the final we expect to happen (LA, Cali, Energy, London) comes about, and all swim times stayed the same as the second round of the playoffs, each team would win the following number of events:
Energy: 15
London: 13
Cali: 7
LA: 7
That’s counting relays as two wins because they’re worth double, and not counting skins because we don’t know what the strokes will be.
While obviously wins alone don’t tell anywhere near the whole story, it’s interesting to see how Cali fares when Dressel isn’t carrying them.
I hope times improve for the final because the times just aren’t anywhere near previous final times. Maybe the teams will hit a taper soon?
So Emma’s 50.73 fly split today in the Mixed Medley Relay is the 8th fastest of all time. She outsplit Dressel, who split a 50.76 (obviously swimming fly and not free).
Can you PLEASE make an article titled “Emma McKeon outsplits Caeleb Dressel in Mixed Medley Relay”. The comments would be the most entertaining thing in the history of the site.
Love it !!
Sorry, Emma swam free and Dressel swam fly. I mixed my words up.
This was not a good scenario for Toronto at all. They needed current to beat London. Current wins tiebreaker based on scoring more points in their two head to head matches (each beat the other once, which was the first tiebreaker).
Only way for Toronto to advance is to beat Cali next week.
They have a chance if dressel and coleman are still rusty like this Weekend
Do many people watch ISL? :’(
Melvin
Not as many people as try to
Congrats to Duncan! First Roar MVP, and done without any relays or skins points. Has there ever been an MVP before who participated in no relays or skins?
A correction: The Condors haven’t beaten the Roar this season. They only faced each other once in the regular season and the Roar won. You have London Roar in second place for the first playoff match but that should be Energy Standard.
And I think the tie break rules are pretty clear that it goes off head to head results, so LA make the final if they tie with Toronto. Either LA needs to come last next week or Toronto needs to upset the Condors for Toronto to make the final, both… Read more »
No, I don’t think so. Daiya Seto was MVP earlier this year and only swam in one relay which was jackpotted, so technically he didn’t get any relay points to contribute to his MVP. But to my knowledge there has never been an MVP who hasn’t been in either a relay or skins.
Katinka Hosszu did it without skins in season 1, which was even more impressive in that it was before Jackpots:
https://swimswam.com/katinka-hosszu-becomes-first-non-skins-winner-to-earn-isl-mvp/
She was in 1 relay, though.
Oh interesting. I just had a skim of the results of that match. Minna was doing a clean sweep of all 3 backstroke events without anyone even getting close. London was going 1-3 in the men’s breast events. Oh how I long for that to return haha.
She’d have been a jackpot monster if they had jackpots that year.
Minna’s season 1 was a highlight for sure. It looked like she’d be 1A and 1B with Kaylee going into Tokyo after that.
Toronto needed Roar to finish third so this doesn’t help them at all.