ISL Rosters: London Roar Returns Core To Chase Season 2 Title

International Swimming League 2020: London Roar

• 2019 finish: 2nd
• 2019 MVP: Emma McKeon (192 MVP points)

The London Roar came within a hair of knocking off league champ Energy Standard twice last year, losing the league finale by just 9.5 points in Las Vegas. The Roar return the bulk of their top scorers, continuing to build around a British and Australian alliance.

Additions

• Annie Lazor (LAC)
• Alia Atkinson (IRO)
• Kira Toussaint (IRO)
• Freya Anderson (IRO)
• Anna Hopkin (NCAA)
• Mariia Kameneva
• Aimee Wilmott
• Andreas Vazaios (DCT)
• Marius Kusch (NYB)
• Tom Dean
• Luke Greenbank
• Mikhail Vekovishchev

London has effectively swapped out both breaststrokers – LA Current’s Annie Lazor makes the leap to London along with Iron’s Alia Atkinson. Both should be among the better breaststrokers in the league this year.

British freestylers Freya Anderson and Anna Hopkin are both awesome pickups who will boost the relays significantly – and London was already arguably the league’s most loaded team in the relays.

On the men’s side, the roster is much more based on returners, but DC Trident IMer Andreas Vazaios is a nice addition. British prospect Tom Dean is rising fast in the 200 frees and the IMs.

Losses

• Mireia Belmonte
• Jess Hansen
• Jeanette Ottesen
• Sarah Vasey
• Boglarka Kapas
• Taylor McKeown
• Yuri Kisil
• Finlay Knox
• Cameron McEvoy
• Peter Bernek
• Bruno Fratus

With the two new female breaststrokers onto the roster, Jess Hansen and Sarah Vasey head elsewhere. Mireia Belmonte is a big name out the door, though she wasn’t a massive scorer last year.

On the men’s side, a handful of fairly key relay guys are off the roster. Cameron McEvoy signed with New York, and Yuri Kisil is joining Toronto’s new team. Bruno Fratus headed to the new Tokyo team.

Returners

• Emma McKeon
• Cate Campbell
• Minna Atherton
• Sydney Pickrem
• Marie Wattel
• Holly Barratt
• Holly Hibbott
• Bronte Campbell
• Siobhan-Marie O’Connor
• Kyle Chalmers
• Guilherme Guido
• Duncan Scott
• Adam Peaty
• Kirill Prigoda
• Christian Diener
• Vini Lanza
• James Guy
• Alex Graham
• Elijah Winnington
• Matthew Wilson

London has some elite women returning. Emma McKeon, Cate Campbell and Minna Atherton all finished inside the top 10 in MVP scoring for the entire league last year. Beyond that, Sydney Pickrem was 14th and Kyle Chalmers 15th.

Most of the top British athletes are still around. Adam Peaty should rule the sprint breaststrokes and Duncan Scott is a really important contributor to retain.

There’s some concern about Australia’s current coronavirus travel restrictions, and whether they’ll cause some or all of London’s Australian contingent to miss the season. We’ll keep updating as more info becomes available there, but the Australians were officially revealed as part of the roster in today’s press conference.

Full Roster

Women:

• Minna Atherton
• Emma McKeon
• Cate Campbell
• Sydney Pickrem
• Alia Atkinson
• Annie Lazor
• Marie Wattel
• Holly Hibbott
• Holly Barratt
• Kira Toussaint
• Bronte Campbell
• Siobhan-Marie O’Connor
• Freya Anderson
• Anna Hopkin
• Mariia Kameneva
• Aimee Wilmott

MEN:

• Kyle Chalmers
• Guilherme Guido
• Andreas Vazaios
• Adam Peaty
• Duncan Scott
• Kirill Prigoda
• Elijah Winnington
• Vini Lanza
• James Guy
• Christian Diener
• Marius Kusch
• Matthew Wilson
• Tom Dean
• Alex Graham
• Luke Greenbank
• Mikhail Vekovishchev