In this weekly series, we’ll track stars of the week’s ISL meets, both established stars and rising stars.
5 STARS OF WEEK 3
Stars of the week will profile top-end swimmers who outperformed expectations for the week. Just winning events isn’t necessarily enough.
Alia Atkinson, LON
Atkinson was a force for London, sweeping the 50 breast, 100 breast, and all three rounds of the 50 breast skins. She was also arguably the reason London got to pick breaststroke at all for the skins, putting up the field’s best breaststroke split on the medley relay.
Moving forward, Atkinson might be the league’s only possible check on the rampaging Lilly King. And she allows London to match King’s Condors on the breaststroke leg of the medley, which sets up London to end Cali’s unbeaten streak with their dominant fly/free combo.
Much has been made of King’s undefeated streak in all three breaststrokes. But it’s also worth noting that Atkinson is herself undefeated in ISL history in the 50 breast, winning three times last year and twice so far this year.
Siobhan Haughey, ENS
Haughey swept the 100, 200, and 400 frees in match #6, which is a pretty impressive show of freestyle range. Maybe more impactful were her elite relay splits.
Haughey led off the women’s free relay in 51.14 – the league’s best 100 free time for the season and just a tenth off the ISL record. She also split 51.1 to bring Energy from 3rd to 1st on her leg of the mixed free relay. Haughey won a much-deserved meet MVP award without the benefit of the skins, and leads the league in both the 100 and 200 freestyles, setting an ISL record in the latter on Monday.
Kylie Masse, TOR
Toronto solidified themselves as a playoff team this week, and Masse was the difference-maker. Masse swept the 50 and 100 backstrokes in match 6 and only lost the 200 to her teammate Lisa Bratton. Masse also torched the field leading off the women’s medley relay, staking the Titans to a lead of 0.8 seconds. They won by 0.4.
That win gave Masse her biggest opportunity for scoring: the backstroke skins, where she responded by winning all three rounds and grabbing 38 points. She hit a season-best 26.19 in the opening round of those skins and still held on to easily win the next two rounds.
Tom Shields, LAC
Another week, another undeniable campaign by Shields to be included in our stars of the week. Shields is currently #4 in the league in scoring, and it shows. This time around, Shields got to take on a butterfly skin race – touted by many as the hardest stroke to hold together across a three-round event.
Shields won the first and third rounds, holding his speed together remarkably well. (He was 22.3, 23.0 and 23.2 across his three swims). Like Masse, his opening swim was his season-best, and rocketed him to #4 in the league for the season.
Shields also won the 100 fly (48.94 – 1st in ISL ranks), 200 fly (1:50.28 – 1st in ISL ranks), split 46.4 on a winning free relay and 48.3 butterfly on the winning medley relay, hitting multiple season-bests in a very busy event slate.
Florent Manaudou, ENS
If Energy Standard wants to track down Cali and win their second-straight league title, Manaudou might be their best weapon. The French sprinter was dominant in week 3 coming out of the bye week: he improved his league-leading 50 free to 20.55. He won the 100 IM in 51.49, moving to #3 in the league and just two tenths behind the league leader Caeleb Dressel. And he obliterated all three rounds of the men’s skins, going 21.0, 21.7 and 22.2 for a huge points haul.
#2 in MVP scoring for the match, Manaudou also came up clutch with a 45.7 relay anchor to help Energy win the medley. Energy has the most well-rounded team in the league, despite losing to Cali in week 1. With Cali’s weaknesses very apparent on the men’s side, Manaudou could power a coup for the reigning champs – if he can neutralize Dressel in the 50 free, 100 IM and skins, he’ll leave the Cali men completely toothless against Energy’s loaded roster.
5 RISING STARS OF WEEK 3
Rising stars are lesser-known swimmers who had high-impact performances this week.
Anastasiya Shkurdai, ENS
17-year-old Shkurdai exploded this week for Energy, winning the 100 fly and 100 IM and taking third in the 50 fly. She’s currently the ISL leader in the 100 fly, and like Manaudou, her wins mean a lot for Energy’s hopes of running down Cali. The Cali women’s roster is incredibly deep – but if they have a weakness, it’s in sprint fly where Kelsi Dahlia hasn’t been nearly as good as she was in 2019. Shkurdai could exploit that weakness if she keeps rising this quickly.
Freya Anderson, LON
The key relay reinforcement for London, Anderson arrived and made the London relays look completely overhauled. Here’s a look at London’s relay times in their two meets so far:
| Week 1 | Week 3 | |
| W Free Relay | 3:30.91 | 3:27.48 |
| W Medley Relay | 3:50.27 | 3:47.85 |
| Mixed Free Relay | 3:19.08 | 3:17.48 |
On the women’s free relay, the only lineup change was adding Anderson (51.5 split) for Siobhan-Marie O’Connor (53.1). On the medley, the only change was Anderson (51.0 anchor) for Maria Kameneva (53.0). That also allowed London to use Kameneva to lead off the B relay, which was third overall.
The mixed relay did swap one man, but Anderson’s 51.3 was a game-changer after the team got two 52.0 splits from their women the week before.
Takeshi Kawamoto, TOK
Kawamoto has been an underrated star for the Tokyo Frog Kings. Most notably this week, he made the final of the 50 fly skins, taking Shields down to the wire and beating him in round 2.
In two matches for Tokyo, Kawamoto has already hit lifetime-bests in the 50 fly (22.28), 100 fly (49.88) and 50 back (23.16), bringing a much-needed sprint presence to the Frog Kings beyond Vladimir Morozov. Kawamoto even beat Shields head-to-head in the 50 fly, throwing a late wrinkle into LA’s decision to pick fly for the skins. Kawamoto currently ranks #2 in the league in the 50 fly.
Marcelo Chierighini, AQC
Chierighini was pretty disappointing last year for the New York Breakers, with a handful of 49+ relay splits and a last-place showing in his only skins entry. But he’s found new life with the Aqua Centurions, helping beef up one of the league’s better men’s sprint groups.
Chierighini split 45 twice in match 6. He was 45.6 on the winning men’s free relay. Aqua remains the league leader in that relay and is undefeated in three matches so far this year. He also split 45.8 on the mixed free relay where Aqua was third. His split was the best in the entire field.
Shane Ryan, TOR
Ryan is another swimmer who has been light years better in 2020 than he was in the ISL last year. The Toronto Titan won the 100 back in 50.45, beating Energy Standard standout Evgeny Rylov and Olympic champ Matt Grevers. Ryan also beat that bunch in the 50 back, and had the field’s second-best leadoff leg of the men’s medley relay at 50.67.