2020 INTERNATIONAL SWIMMING LEAGUE – MATCH 5
- Friday, October 30th: 3-5pm CET/9-11am U.S. Central
- Saturday, October 30th: 12-2pm CET/6-8am 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
- Teams: London Roar/DC Trident/LA Current/Tokyo Frog Kings
A pair of national records went down early on in the International Swimming League’s fifth match from Budapest, with Luke Greenbank and Markus Thormeyer resetting the British and Canadian marks, respectively, in the men’s 200 backstroke.
Greenbank clocked in at 1:49.97 to take fourth, thanks to a huge final 50 of 27.52, to break his own British Record of 1:50.09 set at the European Championships last December.
The 23-year-old represents the London Roar, and placed third in the event in his first appearance this season in Match 2 in a time of 1:50.91.
Thormeyer, 23, shattered the Canadian Record by exactly one second in 1:50.30, placing fifth in the event. Thormeyer reclaims the record from Cole Pratt, who’s competing this season for the Toronto Titans. Pratt clocked 1:51.30 back in December, which erased Thormeyer’s existing standard of 1:51.57.
That was Thormeyer’s personal best time prior to this swim, done at the Budapest stop of the 2019 ISL season, and the 2016 Olympian had also been 1:51.72 earlier this season during Match 3.
The improvements made by both Greenbank and Thormeyer are positive signs for their respective countries’ medley relays as we look towards next summer, as both will be critical legs.
Ryan Murphy won the event for the LA Current in a time of 1:48.03, followed by Tokyo’s Ryosuke Irie (1:49.18) and DC’s Jacob Pebley (1:49.93).
Interesting to see how two swimmers from the same country were so differently impacted from the pandemic.
Thormeyer is throwing down big best times while Cole Pratt added pretty significantly to his best times last weekend.