2021 INTERNATIONAL SWIMMING LEAGUE – SEASON 3, MATCH 9
- Thursday, September 23 – Friday, September 24
- 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm EST (8:00 pm – 10:00 pm Local Time)
- Piscina Felice Scandone, Naples, Italy
- Short Course Meters (25m – SCM) Format
- ISL Season 3 Schedules, Start Times, & More
- Teams Competing: Energy Standard, London Roar, Toronto Titans, DC Trident
- Omega Live Results
- Match 9 Preview
- Match 9, Day 1: Live Recap
- Match 9, Day 2: Live Recap
Barry Revzin contributed to this report.
MATCH – FINAL TEAM STANDINGS
- Energy Standard – 568.0
- London Roar – 457.5
- Toronto Titans – 380.5
- DC Trident – 357.0
Scoring Breakdown
| Club | Men | Women | Mixed | Score |
| Energy Standard | 288 | 252 | 28 | 568 |
| London Roar | 214.5 | 227 | 16 | 457.5 |
| Toronto Titans | 186.5 | 174 | 20 | 380.5 |
| DC Trident | 160 | 187 | 10 | 357 |
The DC Trident made Match 9 interesting by keeping it much closer with Toronto than might have been expected. At the conclusion of the match, the Toronto Titans only beat the DC Trident by 23.5 points. DC’s most obvious weakness is in the sprints, particularly in the skins. Throughout the entire season thus far, the DC Trident has only scored 34 points in the skins. For comparison, Energy Standard’s Evgeny Rylov scored 37 points in the skins just today.
The New York Breakers, the Tokyo Frog Kings, and the Aqua Centurions have only raced 3 matches each so far this season and still out-pace the Trident in total points scored in the skins, coming in at 43 points, 64 points, and 89.5 points, respectively. In terms of averages, the Cali Condors have averaged to score 97.1 points per match in the skins this season while the DC Trident have averaged only 8.5 points per match this season in the skins.
The Toronto Titans won 8 events in Match 9 but struggled to hold off the DC Trident, a team they beat handily in Match 1. Even so, the Toronto Titans, alongside Energy Standard, London Roar, the Cali Condors, and the LA Current are all automatically qualified for the 8-team play-offs in the Netherlands in November. The DC Trident, on the other hand, will now have to swim the “play-in” match next week to see if their season will continue after Naples.
Match MVPs of Season 3
There have been no repeat Match MVPs yet in season 3, though with two meets remaining Tokyo’s Daiya Seto could break the trend. Energy Standard’s Sarah Sjostrom almost repeated as MVP in Match 3 but was bested by teammate Siobhan Haughey by a single point. Match 2 was also close as Coleman Stewart scored only 2 points more than Caeleb Dressel who would go on to be the Match 4 MVP.
Dressel still holds the lead in terms of total MVP points for season 3 with 233 points accrued over just three matches, one of which he only swam the first day. Fellow Condor Beata Nelson sits in 2nd with 232 points, while Sjostrom is 3rd with 228.5 points and Haughey is 4th with 227 points. Seto is the only swimmer with a realistic shot at surpassing Dressel’s point total before the play-offs in Eindhoven, though Seto is likely to have two more matches in the regular season for a total of 5, doubling the amount of swimming Dressel has done this season.
Energy Standard has had the MVP in each of the four matches they have raced in this season, while the Cali Condors have gone 3-for-4 with match MVPs. Despite their high rank in the league this season, neither the London Roar nor the LA Current has produced a match MVP, though each team is missing a major star–Adam Peaty for the London Roar and Ryan Murphy for LA.
2021 ISL Match MVPs
| Match # | Swimmer | Team | Points |
| Match 1 | Sarah Sjostrom | ENS | 60.5 |
| Match 2 | Coleman Stewart | CAC | 95.0 |
| Match 3 | Siobhan Haughey | ENS | 78.0 |
| Match 4 | Caeleb Dressel | CAC | 112.5 |
| Match 5 | Louise Hansson | TOR | 57.5 |
| Match 6 | Daiya Seto | TOK | 57.0 |
| Match 7 | Beata Nelson | CAC | 67.0 |
| Match 8 | Ilya Shymanovich | ENS | 64.0 |
| Match 9 | Evgeny Rylov | ENS | 60.5 |
Team Standings Through Match 9
| Rank | Team | Points | Match 1 | Match 2 | Match 3 | Match 4 | Match 5 | No. Matches |
| 1 | Energy Standard | 16 | 1st (Match 1) | 1st (Match 3) | 1st (Match 8) | 1st (Match 9) | N/A | 4 |
| 2 | Cali Condors | 15 | 1st (Match 2) | 1st (Match 4) | 2nd (Match 6) | 1st (Match 7) | N/A | 4 |
| 3 | London Roar | 13 | 2nd (Match 3) | 1st (Match 6) | 2nd (Match 8) | 2nd (Match 9) | N/A | 4 |
| 4 | Toronto Titans | 12 | 2nd (Match 1) | 1st (Match 5) | 2nd (Match 7) | 3rd (Match 9) | N/A | 4 |
| 5 | LA Current | 11 | 2nd (Match 2) | 2nd (Match 4) | 2nd (Match 5) | 3rd (Match 8) | N/A | 4 |
| 6 | Aqua Centurions | 6 | 3rd (Match 3) | 3rd (Match 4) | 3rd (Match 6) | 3 | ||
| =7 | Iron | 5 | 3rd (Match 3) | 4th (Match 5) | 3rd (Match 7) | 3 | ||
| =7 | DC Trident | 5 | 4th (Match 1) | 4th (Match 4) | 3rd (Match 5) | 4th (Match 9) | 4 | |
| 9 | Tokyo Frog Kings | 4 | 3rd (Match 2) | 4th (Match 6) | 4th (Match 8) | 3 | ||
| 10 | NY Breakers | 3 | 4th (Match 2) | 4th (Match 3) | 4th (Match 7) | 3 |
Just something that’s come to mind and an interesting fact:
Despite London Roar being one of the strongest teams in the league they’ve never had a swimmer win match MVP since the beginning of ISL in 2019 I’m pretty sure. They’ve had swimmers come close but I don’t think they’ve had a swimmer win it before.
So if we get a tie on the overall table points does that mean we may finally see a 4×50 relay to determine who are in match 11
Hopefully
DC making it into the playoffs I feel it.
Yeah right now I’d take DC and (Iron or Aqua, whoever doesn’t win tomorrow).
Do you know what happens if Iron gets first and Aqua second? Because they will tie for sixth…. Will it be 4×50 relay?
Relay is only for a match tie.
Tie breakers are, in order:
1) Tie in points scored in matches where both teams participated
2) Total number of event wins in the regular season
3) Total Match points
4) Random draw