Just as the International Swimming League’s Team Iron is arming up its arsenal, the London squad is also stacking up its swimming weapons. We already knew that Aussies Kyle Chalmers, Cate Campbell, Bronte Campbell, Emma McKeon, Alex Graham, Jess Hansen and others were along for the inaugural ISL ride, but the squad’s social media posts have revealed additional power added to the Adam Peaty-led brigade.
- Yuri Kisil, CAN – 23-year-old Kisil made his Olympic debut in Rio as a member of Canada’s 4x100m freestyle relay. He also competed in the 100m free and 50m free, where he finished 10th and 35th, respectively. Kisil went on to represent his nation in Budapest a year later at the World Championships, taking bronze as a member of the mixed 4x100m medley relay. He also scored bronze on Canada’s 4x100m mixed free relay there as well. Kisil most recently won the 50m bronze in Tokyo at the 2018 Pan Pacific Championships.
- Matthew Wilson, AUS – The 20-year-old Aussie has been making major strides in his breaststroke specialty over the past few years, including taking the 200m bronze at least year’s Pan Pacific Championships. He’s currently ranked 3rd in the world in the event, courtesy of the 2:08.56 he threw down at the recent New South Wales State Open Swimming Championships.
- Siobhan-Marie O’Connor, GBR – Peaty gets a British teammate in O’Connor, the woman who almost upset Hungarian Katinka Hosszu in the women’s 200m IM in Rio. O’Connor led all swimmers after the semi-finals and finished just .3 behind Hosszu to take silver at the Olympic Games. O’Connor owns 4 individual British National Records across both LCM and SCM.
- Finlay Knox, CAN – A relative newcomer on the international swimming scene, Knox took bronze at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games for Canada. Finlay won the men’s 200m IM in a new personal best time of 2:01.91. In doing so, Knox became just the 2nd male swimmer to ever win a medal for Canada at a Youth Olympics.
- Jeanette Ottesen, DEN – Danish relay medalist from Rio, Ottesen had been out of the pool for several months since the birth of her daughter in December 2017. She’s been chipping away at getting back to her prime, including competing domestically periodically since last summer. Ottesen mad her return to international competition last week at the Edinburgh International Meet, where the 31-year-old didn’t miss a beat, putting up the 7th fastest 50m fly time in the world this season.