Still No Seto for Energy Standard at European Derby Meet

2019 INTERNATIONAL SWIMMING LEAGUE – EUROPEAN DERBY

• Saturday, November 23 – Sunday, November 24, 2019
• 5:00-7:00 PM Local Time (12:00 noon – 2:00 PM, U.S. Eastern Time)
• London Aquatics Centre – London, England
• Short Course Meters (SCM) format
• European franchises: Aqua Centurions, Energy Standard, Iron, London Roar
• Viewers Guide

Energy Standard Club, who sit atop the regular season European standings headed into the International Swimming League (ISL) European Derby this weekend in London, have finalized their roster for the meet.

• See the London Roar roster here.
• See the Iron roster here.

Among all teams whose rosters we know so far, theirs is arguably the most complete, missing only 3 swimmers from their full roster.

The 3 absences are distance freestyler Mischa Romanchuk, Japanese IMer Daiya Seto, and Turkish IMer Viktoria Gunes. Seto, a late addition to the team, is the only Asian man signed by any team this season, and this means that he will make his ISL debut in Las Vegas, presuming Energy Standard holds on to their spot.

Romanchuk’s value in the ISL format is limited given that his best events, the 800 and 1500 freestyles, aren’t on the ISL schedule. He did fill some key holes for Energy Standard in their first 2 meets, though, in the form of a 5th-place finish in the 400 IM and 2nd-place finish in the 400 free in Naples. That earned 11 total points for his team.

Gunes too was a late addition for Energy Standard. She swam the 100 breaststroke, where she finished 8th in 1:07.28, and the 200 breaststroke, where she was 5th in 2:22.06. Gunes is a former World Junior Record holder in the 200 breaststroke, and remains one of the fastest swimmers in history in that race, but lately she’s been focused more on the 200 IM and 400 IM – making the shift back to breaststroke a bit of a reversion. Those breaststrokes remain among the weakest disciplines for the team, including a 7-8 finish in the 100 from Kierra Smith and Gunes.

Without Gunes on the roster, it will likely be up to Imogen Clark to stretch herself. In Naples, she placed 3rd in the 50 breaststroke and swam the breaststroke leg of the team’s top-finishing 400 medley relay as her only two swims of the meet.

The team’s stars include Indianapolis meet MVP Sarah Sjostrom, sprint stars Ben Proud and Florent Manaudou, and South African butterflier Chad Le Clos, among a team full of stars.

The team will race London Roar, Iron, and Aqua Centurions this weekend in London, with racing beginning at 5 PM local time (Noon US Eastern Time) on both Saturday and Sunday. Tickets for the meet are sold out.

Energy Standard and London Roar are heavy favorites to advance to the finale. Both would need to simply avoid a 4th-place finish to lock in their spot for Vegas. Even with a 4th-place finish, Iron would have to win and beat the 4th-place team by around 200 points to leapfrog the frontrunners.

The bigger battle will be positioning between a shorthanded London Roar team and Energy Standard after the two teams each swept the victories in the group stage of the season. Energy Standard did so, in part, thanks to dominant results in the skins races, but that road gets a lot tougher this weekend now that they’ll have to face swimmers like Cate Campbell, Emma McKeon, Ranomi Kromowidjojo, and Vlad Morozov.

European Standings Heading into Derby Week

Energy Standard Roster, 2019 European Derby Meet

Energy Standard Roster, 2019 ISL – European Derby Meet