Races to Look For at ISL Match #2

2020 INTERNATIONAL SWIMMING LEAGUE – MATCH 2

• Sunday, October 18: 6PM-8PM Local Time (12PM-2PM U.S Eastern Time, 1AM-3AM J+1 Japan)
• Monday, October 19: 4PM-6PM Local Time (10AM-12PM U.S. Eastern Time, 11PM – 1AM J+1 Japan)
• Duna Arena – Budapest, Hungary
• Short Course Meters (SCM) format
• 2020 ISL Scoring Format
• 2020 ISL Prize Money and Bonuses
• Teams: London Roar, DC Trident, Aqua Centurions, Iron

At match #2 of the 2020 International Swimming League season London Roar, DC Trident, Aqua Centurions, and Team Iron will hit the water for the first time on Sunday. 

After this match, only the two expansion teams, the Toronto Titans and Tokyo Frog Kings, will be without results.

Breastroke Battles

When it comes to breastroke, London Roar is stacked. Both Alia Atkinson and Adam Peaty hold world records in the 50m breaststroke while Peaty holds the 100m breast world record on top of that. 

However, the Aqua Centurions have Martina Carraro who’s best 50 meter breast time (29.59) is only a second behind Atkinson, and who is closer to her primer than her Jamaican counterpart.. Arianna Castiglioni, who placed 3rd in the 50m breast just .25 seconds behind Carraro at Italian Nationals in December, will also be in contention to score big points for the Aqua Centurions. With the coronavirus pandemic adding unforeseen training difficulties, that 1 second lead between Atkinson and Carraro may not be a huge difference. 

Regardless, they will still have to answer to London Roar’s Annie Lazor who won the 100 breast and 200 breast at the 2019 Pan American Championships.

On the men’s side Fabio Scozzoli (AC) will go head-to-head with Peaty. At last year’s ISL, Scozzoli took 1st place in the 50 breast while tying his own European Record (25.62). Peaty unexpectedly placed 4th in the event last year, so will he get his revenge in the 50? On day 2 of the same meet, Peaty won the 100m breast against Scozzoli. Will he defend his title?

The Iron Lady Takes on the IM

This weekend we might finally get to see Team Iron’s Katinka Hosszu race in two of her world record-holding events: the 200IM and 400IM. She currently holds 18 out of the 25 fastest all-time 200 meter IM times in the world. Whether or not Hosszu swims a best time in the 200IM or 400IM, there’s something electric about watching the Iron Lady in her element.

Men’s Distance: DC Trident vs. London Roar

Without Katie Ledecky this year, the DC Trident are still looking to be one of the favorites in the men’s 400 free with Zane Grothe at the front of the pack. At last year’s ISL he won the men’s 400 free against Townley Haas and his DC Trident teammate Velimir Stjepanovic who placed 2nd and 3rd respectively. However, overall London Roar’s James Guy swam the 400 free and placed above Grothe twice last ISL season with his fastest swim being 3:39.99 and Grothe’s fastest 400 free being 3:40.73. 

Women’s 200 Free and Sprint

Before Aqua Centurion’s Federica Pellegrini tested positive for COVID-19, she was predicted to sweep the women’s 200 free which she currently holds the world record in. With her out of the race for now, it will be a much tighter race in an already unpredictable event. 

Some of the top contenders include Larissa Oliveira, the South American record-holder in the event from Aqua Centurions, London Roar’s Freya Anderson, and Ali Galyer from DC Trident. Anderson, who won the 100m free at the World Championships in 2016 and 2017, shows great promise to score points in the sprint events.

Jackpots

Jackpots allow swimmers who win a race with a significant lead to score more points. Those extra points are taken away from the last finishers in the event. In addition, top finishing athletes will gain jackpot points from other teams who have a DQ, DNS, or DNF race. 

On day 1 of ISL match #1, these jackpot points created significant divides among the final team scores. The largest divide was 60 points between LA Current in 3rd place with 214 points and NY Breakers in 4th place with 154 points. Without jackpot scoring, the team scores would have been much closer:

Scored by @BarryRevzin https://t.co/ViFJ7bMZzZ

— SwimSwam (@swimswamnews) October 17, 2020

We saw the effect of jackpot points on day 2 with major point stealing swims by Olivia Smoliga (CAC), Siobhan Haughey (ENS), and in the skins races by Lilly King (CAC) and Ryan Murphy (LAC.) By the end of day 2, the Cali Condors won by 103 points, leaving the final match team scores with significant gaps:

1. Cali Condors – 567 points
2. Energy Standard – 463 points
3. LA Current – 420 points
4. NY Breakers – 266 points

Jackpots could negatively affect match #2 teams who have a few very dominant swimmers but less depth in their roster like Team Iron or DC Trident.