Marco Koch Takes the ISL’s First 30-Point Jackpot, #7 Performance in History

2020 INTERNATIONAL SWIMMING LEAGUE – MATCH 4

• Monday, October 26: 3 PM-5 PM Local Time (10 AM-12 noon U.S. Eastern, 11 PM-1 AM J+1 Japan)
• Tuesday, October 27: 3 PM-5 PM Local Time (10 AM-12 noon U.S. Eastern, 11 PM-1 AM J+1 Japan)
• Duna Arena – Budapest, Hungary
• Short Course Meters (SCM) format
• ISL Technical Handbook
• 2020 ISL Scoring Format
• 2020 ISL Prize Money and Bonuses
• How To Watch
• Teams: Cali Condors / DC Trident / Iron / NY Breakers

New York Breakers breaststroker Marco Koch was having a “little bit of problem with his groin” this week in training that kept him from swimming a lot of breaststroke, but that didn’t seem to inhibit him too much in his first swim on Monday.

The German Koch swam a 2:00.81 that is the 7th-fastest performance in the history of the event. Not only did that win the race by 3.69 seconds, it stole points from a whopping 6 swimmers, giving Koch 30 points for the event. That’s the highest single-swim score of the meet so far, and the first swim to steal Jackpots from 6 swimmers.

The Jackpot margin in the event is 5 seconds.

In addition, by stealing money from 3rd and 4th place finishers, he also stole $1,200.

Top 10 Performances in History, All Meets:

1. Kirill Prigoda, Russia, 2018 World SC Championships – 2:00.16
2. Marco Koch, Germany, 2016 German SC Championships – 2:00.44
3. Daniel Gyurta, Hungary, 2014 World Cup Dubai – 2:00.48
4. Marco Koch, Germany, 2015 Euro SC Championships – 2:00.53
5. Daniel Gyurta, Hungary,  – 2:00.67
6. Daniel Gyurta, Hungary,  2:00.72
7. Marco Koch, Germany, 2020 ISL Match #4 – 2:00.81
8. Daniel Gyurta, Hungary, 2014 World Cup Doha – 2:01.06
9. Kiril Prigoda, Russia, 2017 European SC Championships – 2:01.11
10. Qin Haiyang, China, 2018 World SC Championships – 2:01.15

Koch now has won both of his 200 breaststrokes this season. Last season, he won once in 3 Breakers meets, but his times were nowhere near as good as he’s been this year. In what was a challenging year for the Breakers, he was a good scorer, but his times weren’t up to his normal standard.

Koch’s ISL 200 Breaststroke Results

• 2019 Dallas – 2:06.55
• 2019 Budapest – 2:04.27
• 2019 College Park – 2:03.79
• 2020 Match #1 – 2:02.12
• 2020 Match #4 – 2:00.81

So what has changed for Koch?

The most obvious answer is a coaching change late last year in what originally appeared to be an unusual move 6 months out from the Olympics. Now, with the extra year to prepare, he’s back training under Dirk Lange, who was his coach when he was at his best and breaking World Records in the 200 breaststroke.

That move has paid off so far here in the ISL, and looking ahead, it really makes Koch a medal threat in Tokyo again next summer.