2020 ISL Match 6 – Day 2 Live Recap

2020 INTERNATIONAL SWIMMING LEAGUE – MATCH 6

• Sunday, November 1st: 6-8pm CET/11-1pm U.S. Central
• Monday, November 2nd: 4-6pm CET/9-11am U.S. Central
• Duna Arena – Budapest, Hungary
• Short Course Meters (SCM) format
• ISL Technical Handbook
• 2020 ISL Scoring Format
• 2020 ISL Prize Money and Bonuses
• How To Watch
• Omega Results 
• Start Lists Day 1
• Full Results Day 1
• Start Lists Day 2
• Full Results Day 2
• 5 Big Things From Day 1
• Teams: Energy Standard/Aqua Centurions/New York Breakers/Toronto Titans

It was an exciting opening session from Match 6, and day two promises to bring the fire once again.

Energy Standard has built a comfortable, yet not insurmountable lead through the opening day, sitting with 279 points compared to Toronto’s 241. The NY Breakers aren’t out of striking distance either at 202.

Sarah Sjostrom remains out for the defending champions with back issues, but others have stepped up in her absence so far, including Anastasiya Shkurdai, Madeline Banic and Femke Heemskerk, not to mention the standout performance from Siobhan Haughey.

Haughey, who set a new Asian Record in the women’s 100 freestyle leading off the relay and won the 400 free on day one, figures to be a huge factor once again today as she tackles the individual 100 and 200 free.

In the skins events, the Titans have selected backstroke with their duo of Kylie Masse and Lisa Bratton, and Energy Standard picks freestyle for men, with 50 free winner Florent Manaudou and captain Chad Le Clos in the lineup.

Recap: James Sutherland. Race Analysis: Jared Anderson.

Women’s 100 Freestyle

Siobhan Haughey went wire-to-wire for her second individual win of the meet in 51.30, while Kasia Wasick and Femke Heemskerk also got themselves under 52 seconds in second and third.

Swimming without Sarah Sjostrom has been no problem for Energy Standard. After two Energy Standard flyers went 1-2 and bettered Sjostrom’s league-leading time in the 100 fly yesterday, Haughey gets the big win here in a 1-3 for Energy. Haughey was slightly quicker, 51.14, leading off the relay yesterday which is the top time in the league this season.

New York’s Wasick continues to swim well – she bettered her season-best and Polish Record by .01 and sits just outside the top five in the league.

Three swimmers were jackpotted, including both Aqua Centurions. Toronto had their second entrant jackpotted, which will both push them further behind Energy but also allow New York to start gaining some momentum behind them.

Men’s 100 Freestyle

Marcelo Chierighini had the early speed, but it was Aqua teammate Alessandro Miressi who closed like a train in 23.96 to book the win in 46.27. Blake Pieroni edged Chierighini for second.

The Aqua Centurions have been relying on their deep men’s roster to make up for a very thin women’s squad. That strategy worked here, with Aqua going 1-3 behind Miressi’s 46.27. That’s two-tenths off of Miressi’s season-best. He still sits #3 in the league this year.

Pieroni was also off his season-best, which sits #5 in the league for the season, but it’s a good event for Toronto in 2nd and 5th. Energy chose not to swim Florent Manaudou, who is currently #4 in the league for the season. Energy appears to be resting the veteran Manaudou, who will swim only the 100 IM and 50 free skins today.

The Breakers struggled to 7th and 8th, though no one was jackpotted. New York is now about as far behind Toronto (41 points back) as Toronto is behind Energy (51 points back).

Women’s 200 Butterfly

Boglarka Kapas steadily moved through the field after turning seventh at the 50, closing in 32.42 to edge out teammate Svetlana Chimrova in 2:06.15. Early leader Emily Overholt faded to fifth in 2:08.90, having gone out in 1:00.41 but closing with the slowest final 50 of 35.03.

That’s a massive 1-2 for New York, with two jackpots included. It wasn’t clear until the very end just how good the Breakers would be, but their duo of Kapas and Chimrova had the field’s best and fourth-best closing splits. For Kapas, she’ll pass up fellow Hungarian Katinka Hosszu for the #5 spot in the league so far this year. That’s easily her first 200 fly win in ISL history. Kapas was no better than 5th in this event in any meet last year and only fourth last week.

Toronto looked like they were in for a breakout win from Overholt, who charged out to an early lead but faded hard and finished just 5th. Toronto was still 4th and 5th and avoided the dreaded jackpot line, but they’ll still lose ten points to the Breakers here. New York is now 31 back of Toronto in the hunt for second.

Men’s 200 Butterfly

After Chad Le Clos led early, Leonardo de Deus made it a race on the third 50, overtaking the lead with a nasty 28.86 50 split. But it was Le Clos, as he so often does, closing incredibly fast in 27.75 to win by almost a second and a half in 1:50.57.

de Deus was a solid second in 1:52.03, and Kregor Zirk moved up from fifth at the 150 to take third for Energy Standard and set a new Estonian Record of 1:53.32.

Le Clos surged over the final 50, with the field’s fastest closing split by a crazy 1.7 seconds. His 1:50.57 is a tenth off his swim from the season-opener, and he remains #2 in the league this year behind undefeated three-time winner Tom Shields. Le Clos jackpotted one Titan and one Breaker at the back for a big points haul for Energy. It’s safe to say the battle for first is starting to settle with Energy clearly out front.

Aqua Centurion de Deus swam a gutsy race, going out hard but wasn’t quite able to hold off le Clos. He finished second, but it was a solid event for Aqua with no one getting jackpotted.

New York makes up one point here, and are now 30 behind Toronto for second.

TEAM SCORE UPDATE

1. Energy Standard, 335.0
2. Toronto Titans, 270.0
3. NY Breakers, 240.0
4. Aqua Centurions, 175.0

Women’s 100 Backstroke

Kylie Masse keeps up the momentum she created on day one, blasting to a decisive win in 56.14 after a season-best of 56.22 on the relay yesterday. Masse had the top split in the field on both the opening and closing 50s.

Emily Seebohm solidified second in 56.80, and Lisa Bratton closed well to get two Titans in the top-three.

Masse affirmed Toronto’s decision to roll with the backstrokes for the women’s skins. Her 56.14 will improve her season-best, which was already sitting #2 in the ISL this season. And 200 specialist Bratton was third as Toronto battled back against a rising New York group. Masse jackpotted three swimmers at the bottom, including one Breaker, so that’s huge for the points battle for second. Toronto is back up by 46 over New York while still about 55 behind Energy for first.

That caps off a backstroke sweep for Toronto, with Masse winning the 50 and 100 back and Bratton the 200.

Seebohm was just off her season-opening swim in second. But she was also two tenths faster than her relay leadoff yesterday.

Men’s 100 Backstroke

Shane Ryan followed Masse’s swim by taking out Evgeny Rylov by a tenth in 50.45, with his opening 50 of 24.05 the key. Rylov was the fastest closer in 26.30, but it wasn’t quite enough to run down the Irishman.

Rylov led off yesterday’s medley relay in 50.14.

Make it two in a row for Toronto, with Shane Ryan pulling off a huge win over Rylov. Rylov was a half-second faster than Ryan leading off the medley relay last night, but Ryan got the head-to-head individual win here by a tenth. Ryan nabbed two jackpots as well, including one on the New York Breakers, and we’re seeing Toronto really swim away with second place so far today.

Energy was 2nd and 3rd, showing their incredible backstroke depth without even using Russian star Kolesnikov. It’s intriguing how many of the top teams are led by male backstrokers, and that’s going to force some tough skins decisions down the road where teams will have to weigh their own strength in backstroke against the relative strengths of the other contenders. LA, London and Energy are all led by strong backstroke groups.

Women’s 100 IM

Anastasiya Shkurdai used her strong front-half to claim another win for Energy Standard in the women’s 100 IM, holding off a hard-charging Abbie Wood down the stretch. Shkurdai was just 0.14 ahead of the Breaker at the finish in 58.34.

Mary-Sophie Harvey also had a strong performance for Energy Standard, edging a pair of Titans for third.

Energy’s Shkurdai has been outstanding this week. After she took over the top ISL time in the 100 fly for Sjostrom yesterday, Shkurdai crushed a 100 IM win here with league-leader Sjostrom out of commission. Energy again goes 1-3, pretty handily dusting this field after a season-opening loss to the Cali Condors.

This field wasn’t particularly fast compared to the league ranks, as no one will crack the top five in the ISL this season. New York’s Wood sits 5th with a previous time, but she was three tenths off her season-best here.

Both Aqua Centurions were jackpotted here. They’ve been 7th and 8th in three of the four women’s events so far today, and the only reprieve was a 6th/7th finish in the 100 back.

Men’s 100 IM

It was a showdown between Florent Manaudou and Michael Andrew in the men’s 100 IM, two of the world’s premier sprinters. Manaudou held the advantage most of the way, and Andrew appeared to gain a little bit on the freestyle as they came into the wall side by side. Manaudou got the touch in 51.49, with Andrew 0.15 back in 51.64.

Joe Litchfield‘s strong opening 50 earns him third for the Breakers in 52.38.

One notable weak point for Energy Standard in their season-opener: taking 7th and 8th in the men’s 100 IM. They rectified that today, swapping out Max Stupin for Florent Manaudou and watching Manaudou take the event win. Manaudou is now #3 in the league this season and just two tenths off the ISL record.

He had to hold off a stiff challenge from New York Breaker Michael Andrew, who surged over the breaststroke and wound up second. Andrew is #4 in the league this year. His Breakers teammate Litchfield was third as the Breakers salvage a small run at the end of the session. They sit 57 points behind Toronto, and with just six events remaining, we probably won’t see a change in the order of the top three until the skins.

Coming off of the 100 free earlier in this session, Kolesnikov was a little off for Energy, going seven tenths slower than he did in week 1 and taking 6th.

TEAM SCORES UPDATE

1. Energy Standard, 393.0
2. Toronto Titans, 325.0
3. NY Breakers, 268.0
4. Aqua Centurions, 180.0

Women’s 200 Freestyle

The Siobhan Haughey show continues for Energy Standard, as she lowers her Asian and Hong Kong Records in the 200 free in 1:51.42, the fastest time in the ISL this season. Haughey had previously been 1:51.67 in Match 1, and now moves to #5 all-time.

Rebecca Smith had a very impressive showing for Toronto in second, clocking 1:52.92, and Heemskerk continues to provide value for ENS in third.

Siobhan Haughey has now won the 100, 200 and 400 this meet, showing incredible range for Energy Standard. She improves her season- and career-best by two tenths, breaking her own ISL record, along with the Asian and Hong Kong records. She pulled off nearly the biggest jackpot we’ve seen this year, stealing points from the bottom five swimmers. Haughey is now the league-leader in this event by an incredible 1.5 seconds. Prior to today, no one besides Haughey had been under 1:53.

That changed, though, with Toronto youngster Rebecca Smith smashing a big 1:52.92 in second place. She was overshadowed by Haughey the whole way, but Smith’s swim was great too, faster than anyone in the ISL this season except Haughey.

Energy and Toronto swept the top four spots, but even Toronto’s fourth-placer had her points stolen. New York took 7th and 8th and got completely jackpotted as their hopes of battling for second are rapidly fading.

Men’s 200 Freestyle

Following his dominant win in the 400 free yesterday, Energy Standard’s Danas Rapsys went after the men’s 200 from the jump, flipping sub-24 (23.69) and sub-50 (49.85) on the front-half. He wrapped it up by coming back in 25.20 to win by over two seconds in 1:41.23.

Felix Auboeck managed to clip Blake Pieroni for second, 1:43.35 to 1:43.38.

Energy will start the session with back-to-back ISL records. This time it was Rapsys, who added a 200 free win to his 400 free win from day 1. Rapsys crushed a 1:41.23, nearly two seconds faster than his season-opening 1:43.1. He moves to #1 in the ISL this season by half a second over Tokyo’s Katsuhiro Matsumoto, and he breaks the league record by three tenths. That was held by Alex Graham at 1:41.5 for London last year.

Rapsys pulled two jackpots there, stealing points from New York and the Aqua Centurions. Energy has built a lead of nearly 100 points over Toronto, comfortably surging ahead steadily today. Toronto is 66 ahead of New York for second, and the Aqua Centurions are 90 behind New York.

Women’s 50 Butterfly

Madeline Banic continues to step up in Sjostrom’s absence, exploding for a time of 24.97 to win the event for Energy Standard. She edges out New York’s Arina Surkova, who breaks her own Russian Record of 25.23 in 25.06.

Oddly enough, the absence of Sjostrom has had a silver lining for Energy Standard – it’s allowing them to find some diamonds deeper in their roster, swimmers who wouldn’t have had individual opportunities without Sjostrom’s back issues. Maddy Banic is a clear example. The former NCAA swimmer smashed a 24.9 to win the 50 fly here, in fact beating Sjostrom’s season-best by three tenths of a second. Banic now sits 4th in the league this season.

New York’s Surkova improved her season-best by two tenths and sits 5th in the league for the season. She’s on the cusp of becoming just the fifth woman this season to break 25.

Both of Aqua’s swimmers were jackpotted and missed the cutoff time. That’s the biggest disaster you can have in this ISL format.

The Breakers will make up 8 points on Toronto here, though they still trail by 58.

Men’s 50 Butterfly

Szebasztian Szabo destroys the field in the men’s 50 fly, clocking 21.86 to lower his season-best by a tenth. He remains the only swimmer sub-22 this season.

Michael Andrew edged out Chad Le Clos for second in 22.57 — they were the only swimmers who didn’t get jackpotted by Szabo.

Szabo has been a major bright spot for the struggling Aqua Centurions. He improves his league-leading time here with a drop of a tenth. That also lowers his own ISL record. Szabo blew out this field, jackpotting the bottom five and beating even second place by seven tenths of a second. That means he was two tenths away from a total jackpot, which would have been the first in league history.

New York’s Andrew seems to be swimming well – this is his second runner-up finish today, and he could make major waves in the 50 free skins. That’s probably New York’s best hope of making a miracle comeback on Toronto. They trail by 51, but made up seven big points here as both Toronto entrants were jackpotted for zero total points.

TEAM SCORES UPDATE

1. Energy Standard, 466.0
2. Toronto Titans, 345.0
3. NY Breakers, 294.0
4. Aqua Centurions, 207.0

Women’s 100 Breaststroke

What a run of fast swims it’s been. Benedetta Pilato crushes the field by almost a full second in 1:03.89, just over two-tenths off her Italian Record of 1:03.67.

200 winner Kelsey Wog managed to squeak out second, beating Molly Renshaw and Martina Carraro by .01 in 1:04.85.

Pilato had her ISL debut overshadowed a bit by the unbeatable Lilly King. But Pilato has been a sensational addition for Energy, and she gets her second win of the week here. The young Italian star was 1:03.89, two tenths off her season-best but enough to win this field by almost a full second.

Pilato sits #2 in the league this year and is one of only three swimmers to break 1:04.

Toronto’s 200 breast winner Wog charged over the back half to take second. But New York went 3-5 to outscore Toronto by a half-point in that team battle.

Energy’s win was muted by an 8th-place finish from free agent pickup Larson, who was two tenths slower than her season-opening swim.

Men’s 100 Breaststroke

What a swim from Ilya Shymanovich, as he lowers his own European Record in the men’s 100 breast in 55.86. He previously had been 55.89 at last year’s SC European Championships. The Belarusian was the only swimmer out sub-26 and also the only one who closed under 30.

In a tight battle for second, Nicolo Martinenghi closed like a freight train in 30.03 to edge out Felipe Lima and Anton McKee in 56.58.

Shymanovich remains unbeaten in the 100 breast this season. His 55.86 will break the ISL record here, shaving .06 off of Adam Peaty’s league record. Shymanovich earns two jackpots here, besting a swimmer each from Toronto and New York.

Energy winds up 1st and 3rd here in a great showing. The Aqua Centurions have been consistently good in men’s breaststroke, and Martinenghi continues to be a standout for them in second place.

Toronto and New York both had more distance-oriented swimmers in this event. McKee was 4th for Toronto with a nice back-half split, and they’ll outscore New York. Koch was 6th for New York and barely escaped the jackpot line. The Toronto lead is back up to 53 now over New York, while Energy leads Toronto by a whopping 135.

Mixed 4×100 Free Relay

The Aqua Centurion men did what they could, putting the club first and second through the 200, but Haughey (51.18) made all the difference for Energy Standard. She put them in the lead, and then Heemskerk closed things out in 51.72 as they won by almost two seconds in 3:16.99.

The Toronto Titans also received a sub-52 leg from Michelle Coleman, moving them up from fifth at the 200 to third, and then Claire Fisch brought them past the Centurions for second by .03.

Marcelo Chierighini turned in another sub-46 male leg in 45.86 for Aqua.

Energy Standard carried the win easily, though they didn’t quite match their league-leading 3:16.2 from the season-opener. Siobhan Haughey was 51.1 on her leg, taking over the lead while swimming third.
You really saw the disparity between Aqua’s men’s and women’s rosters here. The Centurions led by a huge margin early based on a field-best 46.7 leadoff from Alessandro Miressi and a field-best 45.8 split from Chierighini. But the field went by them quickly over the final two legs and they faded to third.

Toronto showed off their depth here in 2nd and 4th. Coleman was 51.8 on her leg, and both Toronto teams had a man go 47.0: Blake Pieroni on the top relay and Sergey Fesikov on the B team.

This might be the nail in the coffin of New York’s hopes for second. They fall to 6th and 8th, losing a lot of points on their shaky relay depth. Toronto is now 68.5 ahead with just four total events remaining and a likely points windfall in the women’s backstroke skins.

TEAM SCORES UPDATE

1. Energy Standard, 520.0
2. Toronto Titans, 383.0
3. NY Breakers, 314.5
4. Aqua Centurions, 242.5

Women’s 400 IM

Abbie Wood and Tessa Cieplucha separated themselves from Zsuzsanna Jakabos on the breaststroke leg, and it was Wood holding a one-second advantage on Cieplucha going into the freestyle.

The Canadian unloaded a sub-1:01 free split, out-splitting Wood by almost three seconds to earn Toronto the win in 4:27.86, just off her 4:27.34 from Match 3. Wood was the runner-up for the Breakers in 4:29.61, and Jakabos was a distant third in 4:34.72.

It was a great finish for Cieplucha, the second former Tennessee Volunteer to get their first ISL win today (Banic was the other). Cieplucha was second most of the way, but roared by New York’s Wood over the freestyle leg, splitting a field-best 30.1 on the final 50. Cieplucha will take home a decisive triple jackpot, effectively locking Toronto into second place as a team.

She was about a half-second faster in Week 2 for Toronto, and still sits #3 in the league this year with that swim.

New York’s Wood was a second and a half slower than her season best, dropping off a little on freestyle. She was 4:28.19 and 4:28.20 in her first two swims here, so this week showed a little fatigue for Wood and the Breakers, who have swum three straight weeks without a bye.

Energy was 3rd and 5th, just avoiding the jackpot line.

Men’s 400 IM

It was a two-horse race the whole way, as Max Stupin and Brandonn Almeida duelled it out. Ultimately it was Stupin’s breaststroke that got the job done, as he gives Energy Standard their 21st win of the meet in 4:04.76.

Almeida, who had been 4:04.75 in Match 4, was 4:05.44 for second. Philip Heintz of the Aqua Centurions would’ve been a factor for the win if it wasn’t for a poor 1:05.38 back leg, as he finishes third in 4:07.62.

In week 1, Energy won the 400 IM with Max Litchfield. Swimming without Litchfield this week, Energy still won the race, with Max Stupin swimming a great 4:04.76 to beat New York’s Almeida. Stupin was just 4:07.0 in week 1, so he showed tremendous improvement over Energy’s bye week. He’ll check in as the #5 swimmer in the league this season, giving Energy the #3 and #5 swimmers.

Almeida still sits #4 for New York. He was seven tenths slower today than his season-best, but still took second pretty easily over the rest of the field.

It was a much-needed 3-4 for the Aqua Centurions, who are just trying to build some momentum for a future season, when they should get their deep Italian contingent back active. (Most of the top Italian swimmers withdrew late amid the coronavirus pandemic).

This race is a weak spot for Toronto, which went just 6th and 7th with 7th-place Darragh getting jackpotted.

Women’s 50 Backstroke Skins

Round 1

Masse topped the field as expected for Toronto. But there was quite a bit of shaking up behind her compared to yesterday’s 50 back. Yesterday’s runner-up Tchorz fell to 5th and will miss the second round. Energy Standard put two into the second round in 2nd and 3rd, with Seebohm moving from 4th to 2nd and Davies holding third. Aqua Centurion Medeiros is the world record-holder in this event, and she moves on, blocking Tchorz out of the mix.

Round 2

Masse continues to dominate, coasting to an easy win here. She was still sub-27 after swimming faster in round 1 (26.19) than she did in the individual 50 back yesterday (26.44). She also got a jackpot on the world record-holder Medeiros, who fell off badly for the Aqua Centurions.

Seebohm will join Masse in the final, besting her teammate Davies by two tenths of a second.

Round 3

The medley relay winners remain undefeated in their respective skin races. Masse crushes a big win here, going 27.1 and showing pretty solid endurance across the three rounds (26.1/26.8/27.1). Seebohm stuck within the jackpot margin to keep her seven points.

That’s going to push Toronto well ahead of New York in the race for second. Toronto has a 98.5-point lead over New York while trailing Energy by 132.

Masse winning all three rounds gives her 38 points for the event, shooting her into second in the MVP race.

Men’s 50 Freestyle Skins

Round 1

Manaudou and Szabo were pretty much locks to move on after breaking 21 in the 50 free yesterday. They played a little bit of a strategic game, winning by just enough to be safe here, but they both played a bit for the later rounds, giving up jackpot potential in round 1.

The Aqua Centurions get two in, as 100 free standout Miressi moved up from 4th in the 50 free yesterday to third here. Meanwhile Michael Andrew hung tough in fourth and will move on to the next round, knocking out Toronto’s Chadwick by a tenth.

Round 2

Manaudou closed hard in round 2, taking over the win from Szabo. But both men will move on to the final. Szabo breathed every stroke on the way out here – maybe that’s an oxygen-conservation strategy to set up for the final. Or it could suggest Szabo is winded pretty badly after a busy event slate today.
Both men were under 22 seconds as they held on decently well.

Round 3

Manaudou exploded in the final round, crushing a 22.27 to beat Szabo for the win. Manaudou was a one-time skins winner in freestyle last year, winning the season opener. But he made the final in each of his other three meets in 2019 and has never missed a skins final.

Szabo stuck just close enough to avoid a jackpot, though. In fact, he was just .06 inside the jackpot margin to keep his seven points. Prior to this week, Aqua had never had a swimmer advance past the first round of the men’s skins this season. They get their first semifinalists in Szabo and Miressi and their first finalist in Szabo.

FINAL TEAM SCORES

1. Energy Standard, 609.0
2. Toronto Titans, 448.0
3. NY Breakers, 354.5
4. Aqua Centurions, 290.5