Today at noon (U.S. Eastern Time), the International Swimming League will hold a press conference announcing rosters for half of its 8 inaugural franchises. That includes two of the four American franchises which so far have no official athlete announcements. (The European teams have been revealing their rosters on social media as they’ve signed athletes, so we have a good portion of their rosters already nailed down.
We’ll be following the press conference live, trying to capture as much of the new information, announcements and athlete quotes as we can. Stay tuned to this page and keep refreshing for live updates from the press conference.
Also keep tabs on the SwimSwam frontpage, where we’ll be posting more full roster announcements as we get them.
Rosters expected to be announced today:
Group A: Announced 6/11/2019
- Cali Condors
- DC Trident
- AquaCenturions
- Energy Standard
Group B: Announced 6/18/2019
- LA Current
- New York Breakers
- Team Iron
- London Roar
Live Updates
10:30 AM:Β In the pre-press conference setup, we’ve already seenΒ Lilly KingΒ andΒ Olivia Smoliga,Β suggesting they are members of either the Condors or the Trident.Β Cody MillerΒ has been mentioned as a press conference participant as well.
11:00 AM:Β The Rome-based Aqua Centurions are first up, introduced by Alessandra GuerraΒ andΒ Marita Guglielmi.Β “ISL is the future and we are so proud of being part of this adventure,” Guglielma said. She namedΒ Fabio ScozzoliΒ as the team’s vice captain.
11:10 AM:Β Next up was GMΒ Jason LezakΒ of the Cali Condors. He introduced two of his athletes: Lilly King and Olivia Smoliga.Β “I think the league is really going to change how we see swimming,” King said.
“We are the team to beat,” Smoliga said with a laugh in some light trash talking with the other franchises.
Their roster includesΒ Kelsi Dahlia, Mallory Comerford, Townley Haas, Hali Flickinger, Melanie MargalisΒ and AustraliansΒ Ariarne TitmusΒ andΒ Jack CartwrightΒ among others.
11:15 AM:Β Next are the DC Trident, GM’d byΒ Kaitlin Sandeno,Β who introduced Cody MillerΒ andΒ Natalie Coughlin,Β who will be competing for the Trident as an athlete.
“Many people assumed that I was retired,” Coughlin said. “I very purposefully and thoughtfully never retired.
“When I decided not to make a retirement announcement, it was to compete in fun competitions,” Coughlin said. She says Sandeno asked her about six weeks ago to join her roster, and that she ultimately decided to compete and stay in the competitive swimming community, even after recently becoming a mother. She says she kickstarted her training about six weeks ago.
DC’s roster includesΒ Kevin Cordes, Zane Grothe, Siobhan Haughey, Katie Ledecky and Jay Litherland,Β among others.
11:20 AM:Β Finally, the Energy Standard Club announced their roster with two representatives:Β Florent ManaudouΒ and captainΒ Sarah Sjostrom.
Their roster includesΒ Chad le Clos, Penny Oleksiak, Ben Proud, Evgeny Rylov and Anton Chupkov, among others.
11:25 AM: We asked what the GMs prioritized in recruiting athletes for their teams:
Sandeno: she mentioned versatility, but especially emphasized powerful women. Sandeno explained her rationale for going after Coughlin, who she says has been an icon and a hugely impactful swimmer for women in the sport. She also emphasized depth, comparing it to the NCAA format.
James Gibson (Energy Standard): he focused on athletes who could step up in the moment, who were versatile and willing to take on challenges. Gibson also mentioned athletes with a background in team swimming.
11:30 AM:Β Miller, who grew up near Las Vegas, talked about the excitement of competing in a meet in an arena in Las Vegas. “10-year-old me would be so excited,” Miller laughed.
11:35 AM:Β Coughlin, asked about her competition plans outside of the ISL, said she “probably should shake off the cobwebs” at a different competition first, but didn’t have any specific meet plans. She emphasized her liking of the short course format, and said she’d probably focus on sprints, though she’d swim whatever Sandeno needed her to. Coughlin said she was excited about the challenge of getting back into shape, but pointedly did not make any comments about other international meets like U.S. Nationals or Olympic Trials in 2020.
Full rosters:
Aqua Centurions:
- Luiz Altamir Melo
- Ilaria Bianchi
- Georgia Bohl
- Martina Carraro
- Apostolos Christou
- Santo Condorelli
- Breno Correia
- Laszlo Cseh
- Ilaria Cusinato
- Gabriele Detti
- Silvia Di Pietro
- Luca Dotto
- Kristian Gkolomeev
- Philip Heintz
- Franziska Hentke
- Sarah KΓΆhler
- Nicolo Martinenghi
- Kaylee McKeown
- Alessandro Miressi
- Larissa Oliveira
- Margherita Panziera
- Federica Pellegrini
- Fabio Scozzoli
Cali Condors:
- Bowen Becker
- Jack Cartwright
- Mallory Comerford
- Kelsi Dahlia
- Nic Fink
- Hali Flickinger
- Townley Haas
- Molly Hannis
- Natalie Hinds
- Anton Ipsen
- Mitch Larkin
- Lilly King
- Olivia Smoliga
- Melanie Margalis
- Kylie Masse
- Justin Ress
- John Shebat
- Jan Switkowski
- Ariarne Titmus
- Andrew Wilson
- Kelsey Wog
- Shayna Jack
- RadosΕaw KawΔcki
- Kacper Majchrzak
- Mark Szaranek
DC Trident:
- Anika Apostalon
- Zach Apple
- Lisa Bratton
- Kevin Cordes
- Natalie Coughlin
- Abraham DeVine
- Ian Finnerty
- Bethay Galat
- Sarah Gibson
- Zane Grothe
- Zach Harting
- Siobahn Haughey
- Tristan Hollard
- Madison Kennedy
- Katie Ledecky
- Jay Litherland
- Cody Miller
- Leiston Pickett
- Gabriel Santos
- Jeremy Stravius
- Giles Smith
- Brianna Throssell
- Sion Whittaker
- Andeas Vazaois
Energy Standard:
- Simonas Bilis
- Danas RapΕ‘ys
- Charlotte Bonnet
- Mykhailo (Misha) Romanchuk
- Anton Chupkov
- Evgeny Rylov
- Imogen Clark
- Kayla Sanchez
- Georgia Davies
- Emily Seebohm
- Femke Heemskerk
- Sergii Shevtsov
- Chad le Clos
- Anastasiya Shkurdai
- Fantine Lesaffre
- Ilya Shymanovich
- Max Litchfield
- Sarah SjΓΆstrΓΆm
- Florent Manaudou
- Kierra Smith
- Andrei Minakov
- Rebecca Smith
- Penny Oleksiak
- Maxim Stupin
- Ben Proud
Can we get some salary information?
I am so excited about this. I want this to succeed very badly. I can’t really *picture* it yet, but it sounds really fun. I hope the production and meet management lends itself to excitement, and that they get that livestream Andy character or some equivalent who can add in really great commentary.
Is there a salary cap that each of these teams is following like the NBA/NFL? Also, will that information (salaries/each team’s financial breakdown) be made public like all other professional sports leagues?
Ryan Murphy ended up not on either of the US teams announced today… despite he share pic of one of the poster in his insta…. cleverly divert attention????
How can I order a New York Breakers hat?
Wait… so are the men and women scores combined or seperate?
So will Dressel end up in NY or LA? NY makes more sense seeing heβs on the east coast, but the LA roster will most likely need sprinters more than NY as the breakers already have MA
I feel like he is on LA with Ryan Murphy, Chase Kalisz, Seliskar and others
Just my prediction
I hope so
There aren’t many breaststrokers left, which is my worry.
Andrew Wilson, Nic Fink, Cody Miller, Kevin Cordes all signed. Andrew will be on Breakers. Idk who they will have in terms of breaststrokers
don’t forget Josh Prenot π
and all the speculation of Dressel becoming a breast stroker and beat Adam Peaty π
will Asians ever joined this teams? feel weird not have a single swimmer from that continent.
I think it might have something to do with their national federations
That is not Fun! Let’s make the sport more fun
Siobahn Haughey is from Asia
didn’t see her at first, good then. hopefully Joseph Schooling is in it too..