2020 ISL Match 6 – Day 1 Live Recap

2020 International Swimming League – Match 6

• Sunday, November 1st: 6-8pm CET/11-1pm U.S. Central
• Monday, November 2nd: 4-6pm CET/9-11am U.S. Central
• 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
• Omega Results 
• Start Lists Day 1
• Full Results Day 1 
• 5 Big Things From Day 1
• Teams: Energy Standard/Aqua Centurions/New York Breakers/Toronto Titans

Match #6 will see two teams racing in only their second match of the season: Toronto Titans and Energy Standard. These two teams are yet to go head to head and, despite only having raced once, collected a substantial amount of points during Match#1 and Match#3, respectively.

Energy Standard is without Team Captain and defending MVP from last season, Sarah Sjostrom, who is reportedly dealing with some “slight back issues”. They have gained Femke Heemskerk, who will be on their roster for the first time this season after testing positive for Covid-19 just before the ISL began.

These teams should deliver some exciting match-ups across the events, particularly the women’s back and fly and the men’s breast and back. You can read a full preview of this match here.

Recap: Lydia Ferrari Kehoe, Race Analysis: James Sutherland 

Women’s 100 Butterly

With Sjostrom out, the Energy Standard swimmers really stepped up here for the club. Anastasiya Shkurdai and Madeline Banic finished well ahead of the field to go 1-2, both under the previous fastest time we’ve seen this season (Beryl Gastaldello, 55.84).

They jump out to a 10 point lead right off the hop with 19 here.Toronto and New York both get nine, and it’s a poor start for Aqua who got jackpotted.

Shkurdai also sets new personal best time and Belarusian record time of 55.64, her first time slipping under the 56 mark (her previous best/national record was 56.07) and the league’s leading time in this event so far. Banic’s individual debut has proved fruitful for ES, giving her the 2nd best time this season for the 100 fly.

Even in season 1, there were only two swims under 55.64: Kelsi Dahlia in 55.35 and Emma McKeon in 55.39. Sjostrom’s best was 55.65 last season.

Men’s 100 Butterfly

After two weeks off, Chad Le Clos makes a statement in his first event of the meet, chipping six-tenths off his time from Match 1 (49.97) for his first individual win of the season.

Le Clos picks up 12 points for ENS, while the Centurions have a strong rebound after the women’s race with Szabo and Rivolta going 2-3.

Toronto’s Shane Ryan was just off his Irish national record mark here from Match 3, touching in 50.85. He broke Brendan Hyland’s record in his ISL debut this year with 50.53.

Women’s 200 Backstroke

The Toronto Titans take full advantage in one of their better events, going 1-2 after a couple of massive swims from Lisa Bratton and Kylie Masse. Bratton’s 2:00.99 overtakes Amy Bilquist (2:01.29) for the fastest swim of the season.

Post-race, Bratton mentions how she really attacked the second 50 knowing she’d be able to bring it home strong.

With five swimmers jackpotted, Bratton scores 24, and the two Titans combine for 31 points to take the match lead by seven points. Emily Seebohm was the only other swimmer to put points on the board, lowering her season-best by six-tenths.

Men’s 200 Backstroke

Women’s 200 Breaststroke

It’s a massive swim from Kelsey Wog downs her personal best once again here from Match 3 (2:17.51) to 2:17.13. She is now 2/2 in winning this event this season, and has lowered her personal best time both times. Only Lilly King (2:16.04) has been faster.

It was a strong showing for both Toronto and the Breakers, who went 2-3 with Emily Escobedo and Molly Renshaw both establishing season-best times as well.

The Titans now hold an 18-point buffer on Energy Standard, and the Breakers are up 15 on the Centurions. The Centurions put a non-breaststroker, Haley Black, in the event, who did not meet the minimum time standard and got jackpotted.

Late addition to the ES team, Breeja Larson, was considerably off her personal best time here (2:17.99) from 2016. with 2:23.46. Both Energy swimmers were jackpotted as well.

Men’s 200 Breaststroke

It’s another standout swim for Marco Koch, who puts up 19 points for the Breakers as he inches closer to the world record. His showing of 2:00.58 is the fastest we’ve seen in the ISL, having gone 2:00.81 in his last match (where he got the biggest jackpot in ISL history with 30 points from that swim).

He jackpots half of the field, and all of a sudden the Breakers are tied with Energy Standard for second. Anton McKee and Erik Persson combined for 13 points for the Titans, who now hold a 26-point lead.

The Centurions come out with -1 points again as they’re really struggling to stay in the team race.

Women’s 4×100 Freestyle Relay

After Shkurdai and Banic stepped up in Sjostrom’s absence in the 100 fly, Energy Standard‘s relay swimmers did the same here. Siobhan Haughey gave the club a big advantage with a new Asian Record leading off in 51.14 (her own previous mark was 51.38), and the team ran away with it from there.

They were just over half a second quicker, 3:28.51, in the first match. The Titans did well to go 2-4, only losing six points on Energy Standard for the event. They still lead by 20. The Breakers and Centurions both were penalized to score a combined 16 points for the event.

The Breakers were without Kasia Wasick once again in this event, saving her for the 50 freestyle which is in two-events time. They played the same tactic in their last meet, where she won the event and went 23.43, becoming the 7th fastest woman in history in this event.

Men’s 50 Freestyle

It was all Florent Manaudou here, as the Frenchman records a new season-best of 20.55 after going 20.63 in Match 1.

Manaudou managed to jackpot five swimmers to put up 24 points — also leaving Toronto with zero points for the event – which hurts them in the overall standings. Energy Standard regains the lead over the Titans by four points. Szebasztian Szabo becomes the sixth man sub-21 this season for second, while Michael Andrew also gets on the board, just off his season-best.

Blake Pieroni went 0.12 off his ISL season-best here, (21.41 from match #3), but it wasn’t enough to secure any points.

Points After 8 Events

Women’s 50 Freestyle

Kasia Wasick does it again. After a Polish Record of 23.43 last match, she becomes the sixth-fastest woman of all-time in 23.30, incredibly winning the race by over seven-tenths. It’s the fastest swim of the season and .01 off the ISL Record.

The Breakers seem to be ‘resting’ her for this event as she hasn’t been put in for the 4×100 freestyle relay either today or in their previous match. This strategy is obviously working for them.

She scores 19 points with Jackpots, as the Breakers are now only 18 points back of the Titans for second. Energy Standard goes 2-4 for 12 points, while the Centurions once again put zero points up.

It’s a solid swim for second place Femke Heemskerk in her ISL debut, touching in 24.03. Her ISL-best in this event was 23.73 from the Grande Finale last year.

Men’s 200 IM

It’s a much-needed win for the Centurions, as Philip Heintz pulled away from Joe Litchifled on the breaststroke en route to winning in 1:52.83, just off his season-best of 1:52.78.

That’s also a personal best for Joe Litchfield, downing his previous mark of 1:53.93 from last December to 1:53.58.

Heintz puts up 15 for the Centurions, jackpotting four swimmers (though Mykhailo Romanchuk received a one-point penalty for the club by missing the time standard).

Litchfield also swam his fastest of the season to take second for the Breakers, and Toronto managed to be the only club to have two swimmers score. They sit seven points back of Energy Standard for the lead.

Women’s 200 IM

New York’s Abbie Wood has been among the standouts so far this season, and keeps the momentum rolling here by putting on a clinic the women’s 200 IM. Her swim of 2:04.77 is a personal best and improves on the 2:05.36 she did in Match 4, as she jackpots four swimmers for 19 points.

The Breakers all of a sudden find themselves just 14 points back of the match lead. Tessa Cieplucha and Kelsey Wog kept the points rolling in for Toronto, going 1-2 as they outscore Energy Standard by eight points and retake the match lead.

ACQ’s Tain Bruce misses the cut-off time of 2:13.50 here and so her team is deducted one point.

Men’s 50 Breaststroke

Ilya Shymanovich wins a tight race for Energy Standard in 25.75, just off his 25.64 from Match 1, as he and Felipe Lima combine for 16 points to put them back in first place.

Nicolo Martinenghi (25.87) and Lima (25.91) join Shymanovich and Emre Sakci as the only swimmers who have broken 26 seconds this season. It’s a tough showing for Toronto with only three points in the event. Despite setting a new personal best in this event (27.08 from Match #3), Erik Persson is jackpotted to have his points stolen by Shymanovich.

Women’s 50 Breaststroke

The youngster Benedatta Pilato was off of her 28.97 from Match 1, but she still earns her first win for Energy Standard in 29.45.

Energy Standard‘s depth in the women’s breaststroke field showed here with Imogen Clark taking fourth as her team has built a comfortable (for the time being) 24-point lead atop the leaderboard.

It’s a strong showing for the Aqua Centurions, with Italians Martina Carraro and Arianna Castiglioni going 2-3, while the Titans once again only put three points up.

Titan’s swimmer Jocelyn Ulyett was 0.3 off her personal best form 2017 (30.68) and here missed the jackpot margin with 30.97 and so had her points stolen by Pilato.

Men’s 4×100 Freestyle Relay

The Centurions take full advantage of arguably their best event, combining for a time of 3:04.94 to finish just .01 off of their time from Match 4.

The fastest split comes from Marcelo Chierighini, who ripped a 45.67 swimming second. With two jackpots, they put up 24 points, 30 total with their ‘B’ squad.

It was a good swim for Toronto, taking second with three 46s from Pieroni, Hayden, and Chadwick, but Energy Standard took third and fourth and ended up outscoring the Titans by eight points overall.

Energy Standard has opened up a 32-point lead, with the Breakers only 13 points back of Toronto for second. Energy is the only club yet to get penalized (have points deducted for missing a cut-off) as well.

Points Update

Women’s 50 Backstroke

After placing fourth in her first appearance this season, Kylie Masse snags first for the Titans in the women’s 50 back, improving on her season-best by a quarter of a second in 26.44.

After their standout 200 back earlier in the meet, her and Lisa Bratton combine for 15 points to lead the pack once again. The two of them combined are proving to be a weapon for the Titans when it comes to women’s backstroke.

While still trailing Energy Standard by 30, the Titans have opened up a 24-point advantage on the Breakers for second.

Men’s 50 Backstroke

Shane Ryan delivers his second consecutive win in the men’s 50 back, clocking 22.98 to become the fourth man sub-23 this season. Ryan, who holds the Irish Record at 22.76, was 23.06 in his first appearance.

He also downed the 100m butterfly Irish national record at the last meet, but was 0.3 off that earlier today.

Toronto has now won three of the day’s four backstroke races, gaining five more points on Energy Standard and closing the gap a little more.

Women’s 400 Freestyle

Siobhan Haughey put her impressive freestyle range on display here in the 400, earning her first win of the season in the event in a time of 3:58.75. The Asian record in this event belongs to Wang Jianjiahe and stands at a staggering 3:53.97, just 0.05 off Ariarne Titmus‘ world record mark of 3:53.92.

She was within two-tenths of the Hong Kong Record she set in Match 1 — 3:58.58 — where she took second to Cali’s Melanie Margalis.

Haughey’s teammate, Zsuzsanna Jakabos, lost a point as she missed the jackpot cutoff time, so Energy Standard scores 11 for the event. Their lead on Toronto sits at 27 points (update below).

Points Update

Men’s 400 Freestyle

Danas Rapsys really attacked the men’s 400 freestyle, using his front-half speed to open up a big lead he would never relinquish. Facing a tough field, the Lithuanian dominated for Energy Standard, touching in 3:35.49 to win by almost four seconds.

It’s the fastest swim of the season by almost two seconds, and improves on his time from Match 1 by nearly four seconds (3:39.36). His personal best in this event is 3:33.2o which he set last December at the European Short Course Championships.

Felix Auboeck (NYB), who held the season’s top time coming into the race at 3:37.48, edged out Mykhailo Romanchuk (AQC) for second, as they both hit 3:39s. Their clubs both scored 10 points for the event, with Energy leading the way with Rapsys’ 12.

Women’s 4×100 Medley Relay

Toronto really came to play in the women’s medley relay. It got very close at the end, but Michelle Coleman held off Femke Heemskerk to get the job done, as the Titans will pick the women’s skins tomorrow.

Kylie Masse led off in 56.22, making her the season’s second-fastest 100 backstroker (and her fastest-ever ISL swim), and Louise Hansson delivered a standout 55.34 fly leg to hand Coleman a big enough advantage. Their ‘B’ team took fourth, giving them 28 points for the event.

Energy Standard mitigated the damage, however, placing second and fifth for 22 points. Pilato and Heemskerk had strong swims for their ‘A’ team.

Men’s 4×100 Medley Relay

It was a big performance from the Energy Standard, putting an exclamation mark on an outstanding session. Shymanovich (55.59), Le Clos (49.18) and Manaudou (45.77) also had extremely fast legs to win the race by nearly a second and a half.

The club’s second team fell to sixth on the free leg, but they still lead all teams with 26 points on the event.

The Centurions took second, with a noteworthy 48.97 fly leg from Szebasztian Szabo, and Toronto took third. Energy Standard finishes the day with 279.0 points, leading Toronto (241.0) by 38. The Breakers (202.0) and Centurions (150.0) are firmly in third and fourth heading into day two.

Total Points After Day 1 of Match #6

Check back in with SwimSwam tomorrow to follow all the action from Day 2 – Match 6 of the ISL season 2020. 

Check out -> 5 Big Things From Day 1 of Match 6