5 Big Things From Day 1 of ISL’s Match #6

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 
• Teams: Energy Standard/Aqua Centurions/New York Breakers/Toronto Titans

TOTAL POINTS AFTER DAY 1 OF MATCH #6

• Check out our Live Recap here. 

1. Maddy Banic‘s Individual Debut A Huge Success

Maddy Banic was a late addition into the 100m butterfly for Energy Standard due to the absence of Team Captain Sarah Sjostrom. Up until now she was a relay-only swimmer for ES, but her performance today proved she is an extremely valuable asset to her team.

Banic was a late addition to Energy Standard, getting picked up after the team’s coaches caught wind of a best time she swam in practice off the blocks just before the start of the ISL season.

She touched in second (55.69) behind teammate Anastasiya Shkurdai (55.64), logging the two new fastest times we’ve seen in this event this season – Beryl Gastaldello was previously the fastest time with 55.84).

They finished well ahead of the field with 3rd place going to Louise Hansson (TOR) in 56.19. In fact, there were only 3 sub-56 swims in this event last season:  Kelsi Dahlia in 55.35, Emma McKeon in 55.39, and Sarah Sjostrom with 55.65.

She stepped up once again in the relay events, aiding Energy Standard to a win in the 4×100 freestyle relay (52.88 split) and going sub 56 once again in the 4×100 medley relay (55.86). Her performances today should see her become a more frequent name on ES’ lineup.

2. Toronto Dominates Women’s Backstroke

We predicted some stellar racing in the women’s backstroke events at this match and boy, did we get it. It was a stacked field in the 200 with backstroke veteran Emily Seebohm in for Energy Standard and Lisa Bratton and Kylie Masse of Toronto Titans also in the mix.

Bratton and Masse came out on top in style, finished 1-2 and collecting a whopping 31 points helped by Bratton’s jackpotting of 5 swimmers.

The times were just as impressive as Bratton overtook Amy Bilquist for the fastest swim of the season with 2:00.99 (Bilquist was 2:01.29 in the last match), and Masse followed suit by posting 2:01.95.

Later on in the 50 back, it was Masse who took the win for TT with a time of 26.44 and improved her season-best by over a quarter of a second. Bratton finished 6th (27.05) for a combined point score of 15. Masse gave us one more incredible swim when she led off the 4×100 medley relay in 56.22, ending the day with the second-fastest 100 backstroke time of the season.

3. Kasia Wasick Does It Again

We saw Wasick post 23.43 in the 50 freestyle at her last match, setting a new polish record and becoming the 7th fastest woman in history in the event. Today she managed to improve that mark again with an eye-watering 23.30, which is just 0.01 off the ISL record (Kromowidjojo‘s mark of 23.29 from Budapest).

She won the event by more than 7 tenths of a second which, over a 50m distance and in a short-course pool, is an extremely impressive margin.

The NY Breakers replicated their strategy from Match #4, taking Wasick off the 4×100 freestyle relay, which comes just two events before the 50 free in the schedule. This means that on both occasions, she has been ‘rested’ for the 50; meaning she hasn’t raced anything the day before and it’s her first event of the day.

But, with a result that earned them 19 points today (jackpotted 4 swimmers) and 12 points in Match #4, it seems to be a solid call from the NY Breakers’ coaching team.

4. Rapsys Impresses In 400 Freestyle

One of the most notable performances of the day came from Danas Rapsys (ENS) in the 400 freestyle.

Rapsys went hard in the first 100 of the 400 and his pace didn’t let up throughout. He posted 3:35.49 in the event today, improving his Match #1 time by almost 4 seconds (3:39.96) and the ISL-best time from this season by just under 2 seconds.

His personal best in this event is 3:33.20 from the European SC Champs last December. Between him and the freestyle sprinting field of Energy Standard, they delivered strong performances across the men’s freestyle events today.

5. Wood Shines In 200IM, Breaks British Record

Abbie Wood of the NYB put on a seriously impressive display in the 200IM today, winning her team a whopping 19 points by jackpotting 4 other swimmers.

She set a new British Record in the event (2:04.77), a mark which has previously stood for 5 years and was set by her Loughborough National Centre teammate, Siobhan Marie O’Connor. She won the event by almost 3 seconds.

She now has 2 individual wins under her belt; today’s 200IM and the 400IM from last week. She is proving to be one of the breakout stars of the season.