Sarah Sjostrom Challenged Florent Manaudou to a Skins Race (Video)

2019 INTERNATIONAL SWIMMING LEAGUE FINALE

  • Friday, December 20 – Saturday, December 21, 2019
  • 1:00 – 3:00 PM Local Time (U.S. Pacific Time)
  • Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino – Las Vegas, NV
  • Short Course Meters (SCM) format
  • Top 4 qualifying franchises: Energy Standard, London Roar, LA Current, Cali Condors
  • Live Stream (ESPN3)
  • Day 1 complete results
  • Day 2 complete results

Reported by Nick Pecoraro/Jared Anderson.

WOMEN’S 50 FREE SKINS

ROUND 1:

1.    Cate Campbell – LON – 23.46**
2.    Sarah Sjostrom – ENS – 23.66**
3.    Femke Heemskerk – ENS – 23.72**
4.    Emma McKeon – LON – 23.87**
5.    Kasia Wasick – CAC – 23.88
6.    Beryl Gastaldello – LAC – 24.01
7.    Olivia Smoliga – CAC – 24.08
8.    Farida Osman – LAC – 24.45

**advance to semi-finals

With no Cali Condors into the second round, the finish order gets pretty well locked in. London and Energy Standard should get major boosts out of round 1. The top four are pretty loaded, too, and it was hard to project it breaking any other way, besides maybe Gastaldello making round 2.

ROUND 2:

1.    Sarah Sjostrom – ENS – 23.98**
2.    Cate Campbell – LON – 24.19**
3.    Femke Heemskerk – ENS – 24.21
4.    Emma McKeon – 24.48

**advance to finals

One each for Energy Standard and London into the final. It was the do-everything star Sjostrom and the pure sprinter Campbell into the final, though Sjostrom looks tough to beat after another 23. Either way, we’re happy to see a meaningful skins final – one not stacked with two teammates.

ROUND 3:

1.    Sarah Sjostrom – ENS – 24.32
2.    Cate Campbell – LON – 25.63

In This Story

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Sccoach
5 years ago

Yozhik I like you but I can sniff out bs. And I’d bet a large margin that Yozhik did not switch the channel for the skins event. If you watched the ISL finals event you were not changing the channel on the skins. He is full of it.

Yozhik
Reply to  Sccoach
5 years ago

I’m sorry to disappoint you (no sarcasm). But that is what I did. I mean I didn’t switch channels but I didn’t watch round 3. I am not a fan of any particular ISL team and SC competition isn’t what I really like. But I did watch this tournament. First of all because it is new and I’m interested which way the sport of swimming is developing. Secondly because I will watch mostly any swimming competition. I like this sport and am visiting sometimes even high school meets (it’s across the street). But as I said before I don’t understand the pleasure of watching great sprinters performing at the half (or less) of her/his abilities just because she/he was made… Read more »

NJones
Reply to  Yozhik
5 years ago

Ranomi, Dressel, Morozov pretty fast for 1/2 speed round 3.
Pretty sure in any 100 to 400 race we see someone tire out faster than others last 1/4 or 10% of any race:
*Ledecky 400 last year (yes she was sick)
*Campbell, and others 100 2016
*Condorelli 100 2016, was leading for 85m!
*Phelps 2012 200fly
*Soni 200brst 2009
Fatigue adds drama to any race.

athletestudentgrind
5 years ago

Lol Yozhik is that one guy who sends the first round of a set in practice and then dies

Yozhik
Reply to  athletestudentgrind
5 years ago

Cate Campbell swims 200m by 1:58. Sarah Sjostrom – by 1:54. Who do you think win 150m with 3min interval between 50m sets? If the level of the question is too difficult for an athlete student I can wait with the answer until your graduation. 😀

Troyy
Reply to  Yozhik
5 years ago

If that’s how it works then I guess Ranomi should lose to both of them with a 200m free PB of 1:59.47.

Lopez
Reply to  Troyy
5 years ago

Yozhik just got burned!

Yozhik
Reply to  Lopez
5 years ago

Have no clue what you mean. Are you just croaking something not to get forgotten?

Yozhik
Reply to  Yozhik
5 years ago

I need to know more about your case. But I guarantee that Cate Campbell will never win skin race against Sjostrom. And Cate isn’t lesser sprinter than Sarah. The skin race is completely different type of competition and has not much to do with sprinting abilities. I can’t even formulate what kind of human abilities they are competing at.

Troyy
Reply to  Yozhik
5 years ago

You mustn’t be thinking too hard then.

NJones
Reply to  Yozhik
5 years ago

Ranomi…. Ranomi…. Ranomi….

Yup
5 years ago

she’d have a chance in the final round, when Florent tires so badly….

Mr Piano
5 years ago

Damn, don’t mess with Sjostrom

Not Tom Shields
5 years ago

She should race Ben Proud

Tim
Reply to  Not Tom Shields
5 years ago

Mr One and Done

Ol' Longhorn
Reply to  Tim
5 years ago

One 50 a day wins an Olympic gold. 21.1 isn’t something to sniff at. All those skins blowouts from Dressel aren’t going to matter if he’s not perfect for that one 50 that one day.

Pvdh
Reply to  Ol' Longhorn
5 years ago

Let’s see if Proud can swim 21.1 more than once in his life

Not Tom Shields
Reply to  Pvdh
5 years ago

He has

David
Reply to  Not Tom Shields
4 years ago

She’d actually have a chance with him not at all with Manaudou. In Manaudou’s first skins race against Dressel in Naples, he went 21.25, 21.78, and 23.13 in which he totally coasted into the finish on the second lap as Dressel was laying down a 21.33. Sjostrums WR is just 23.67 so unless Manaudou was wearing a drag suit and sweat shirt, he easily beat her.

Yozhik
5 years ago

I don’t understand this obsession with skin race and valuing it so much. It is nothing else than satisfying very low basic instincts of spectators who understand very little in the quality of swimming. Let’s see who of sprinters tires first. That what it is and that is very weird. Then let’s be more consistent with that like at gladiators fight. Let’s bring more drama. Let them drown. What kind of pleasure can it be to watch finest racing product of the Nature barely finishing the race? What kind of satisfaction is that to watch the 50m competition where runner-up is more than body length behind.
If you are bloodthirsty then make it not three but four rounds. And… Read more »

The Importer AND Exporter
Reply to  Yozhik
5 years ago

We should have competitions where form is judged regardless of time. Enough competing for time, we want to see pretty form!

Yozhik
Reply to  The Importer AND Exporter
5 years ago

SMH, what the form has to do with all that. You probably find it very logical that skin competition was won by swimmers who are also good at 200 distance events. It is a very strange competition where the level of losing ability for sprint is measured. Not the ability to show maximum speed.

David
Reply to  The Importer AND Exporter
4 years ago

It’s called Synchronized Swimming, it’s a totally separate sport.

SWISHER
Reply to  Yozhik
5 years ago

It’s not about who tires first, but the opposite – who has the endurance to sustain speed. That’s what is impressive.

Yozhik
Reply to  SWISHER
5 years ago

That is what 100 and 200 events are for. I hope that it isn’t surprising to you that the specialist in 50m event may not be at all in contention in 100 race. Because we are dealing with significantly different human abilities. Sure you can measure how fast unique abilities to achieve high speed in short period of time is disappearing. I’m finding such interest weird unless you are a scientist in biology.

swimfast
Reply to  Yozhik
5 years ago

it’s mental toughness. there’s really no way in the world a top athlete can’t do 3 x 50s within a second of each other unless they legit give up some form of mental fortitude. it’s not asking for much…even the most true-to USRPT-type swimmers do more than a 150 sprint per practice/day….they can all handle it- it’s not what you’re describing as embarrassing/torture. it’s something that’s actually very relatable to swimmers all around the country, as we grow up doing these kind of sets/meet schedules all the time…it’s part of swimming culture to do back-to-back racing

Yozhik
Reply to  swimfast
5 years ago

You are among a few who are actually providing some arguments that are worth to discuss. Thank you. To all other “clever” personal attackers who think they are funny I have nothing else to say but wishing them happy holidays.

David
Reply to  SWISHER
4 years ago

It’s even more tactical than that. I love it that if a 200 free swimmer can eek out a fourth place in the first heat and advance, they can take out a raw sprinter later.

Triclyde
Reply to  Yozhik
5 years ago

If you don’t like the format just turn the channel.

Yozhik
Reply to  Triclyde
5 years ago

That is exactly what I did. If round 1 was of high interest, then round 3 was nothing else but embarrassment. You can of course call it a triumph of survival. Just let those best sprinters compete at 150m distance stopping half of them after each 50. That is what this race is all about – sprinters are racing in middle distance event.

Yozhik
Reply to  Triclyde
5 years ago

No surprise that triclyde likes three round events. You are probably good in triple jump as well 😀

Troyy
Reply to  Yozhik
5 years ago

I do like the skins but I also think they are overvalued points wise just for the sake of manufacturing drama.

Name
Reply to  Yozhik
5 years ago

Yozhik is Bobo Gigi confirmed.

Ol' Longhorn
Reply to  Name
5 years ago

Nope. Bobo usually made sense, particularly about rising stars in swimming. He had bad takes, but overall, he was informative. This guy….

Yozhik
Reply to  Ol' Longhorn
5 years ago

If you have nothing to say then why waste your time making a post saying I have nothing to say. 😀 Are you ok, old man?

The perfect high elbow
Reply to  Yozhik
5 years ago

You are mad you can’t attack katinka this finale so you are raging against the skins race LMAO

Yozhik
Reply to  The perfect high elbow
5 years ago

LMAO can be dangerous for your health and for environment you are in. Don’t get that much excited. I don’t want to be of any cause of your health issues.

Yup
Reply to  Yozhik
5 years ago

or they could train a lil more…

Sparkle
Reply to  Yozhik
5 years ago

Yozhik you seem like someone who should watching synchronized swimming instead

Yozhik
Reply to  Sparkle
5 years ago

Have you ever tried? We have an Olympian synchronized swimmer in the family and I know first hand what I’m talking about. These girls are clever and tough. They can do much more than rhythmic movement along black line. And they are getting not less tired at the end of performance than a competitive swimmer at finish.
I cannot even guess what was “sparkling” you for such comment.

NJones
Reply to  Yozhik
5 years ago

It’s been fascinating actually watching all the talented swimmers from 50 thru 200 try out strategies. We know Proud won’t outlast anyone but he’s gone at it enough to at least eliminate others round 1 or 2. We have generational talents Dressel and Sarah coming thru in the finals, but arguably their toughest tests weren’t there in sprinters Morozov and Ranomi.
Sport is more ‘dramatic’ when it is mano e mano or Gladiator-like and fatigue is a factor. Last 100m of 1500 track sure demonstrates clearly fatigue and sometimes poor form but it is exciting.

David
Reply to  Yozhik
4 years ago

I think you need to re-evaluate what the race is all about. For me, it’s the most exciting new, innovating thing in swimming & diving that I can think of. Beats the mixed relay’s, synchronized diving, swim suit over engineering and even the Berkoff blast.

The ISL Championship totally swung in the balance in the Men’s Skins race, the last event. Ben Proud doesn’t sneak into fourth place and eliminating London Pride swimmers from advancing and then Manaudou advancing to the final round secured the come from behind finish, they don’t win the team title….that’s exciting. I was high fiveing it when I saw Proud barely got fourth as it put the team title into play. Then Manaudou knew… Read more »

Admin
Reply to  David
4 years ago

FWIW – Energy Standard actually locked up the team title when they blocked London Roar out of the semis, not when Manaudou made the final. The television commentators had the math wrong. If Manaudou had finished 3rd in the semi-finals, Energy Standard still would’ve won by half-a-point.

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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