Relay Analysis: Kolesnikov Becoming Energy Standard’s Go-To Guy

2020 INTERNATIONAL SWIMMING LEAGUE – MATCH 9

• Monday, November 9th: 10AM – 12 noon CET (4AM – 6AM U.S. Eastern, 6PM – 8PM Japan)
• Tuesday, November 10th: 10AM – 12 noon CET (4AM – 6AM U.S. Eastern, 6PM – 8PM Japan)
• 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
• Teams: Energy Standard/Iron/Tokyo Frog Kings/Toronto Titans

A few top swimmers sat out of Match 9 in order to rest for the semi-finals, but there were still several impressive splits across the four relays on day one.

Energy Standard almost ran the table, winning three of the relays, while the Toronto Titan men managed to snag the victory in the men’s 4×100 free thanks to a huge anchor performance from veteran Brent Hayden.

Below, we’ll dive into the splits from all four relays on day one:

Women’s 400 Freestyle Relay

Lead-offs

Pernille Blume got Energy Standard off to a solid start in the women’s 4×100 free, opening up over a second lead on the club’s biggest rivals in the race.

Anika Apostalon was the only other swimmer sub-53 for Toronto’s ‘B’ team, while the Titan ‘A’ squad got disqualified.

Flying Splits

Siobhan Haughey has become a virtual lock to split in the 51s for Energy Standard, as the Hong Kong native was the only one in the field to do so here in 51.59 to firmly extend the lead that Blume had built. Femke Heemskerk and Sarah Sjostrom simply did what they needed to do to book the win, cruising through in 52.36 and 52.83, respectively.

Catie Deloof and Natsumi Sakai both churned out strong swims for Tokyo, ultimately earning them a clear second place.

Men’s 400 Freestyle Relay

Lead-offs

The men’s 4×100 free was the most exciting relay of the session, with it all coming down to the anchor leg between Energy Standard and Toronto.

There wasn’t much in it between the two on the lead-off, with Evgeny Rylov continuing to prove his reliability opening up sub-47, with Yuri Kisil hot on his tai in 47.05.

Thom de Boer had one of his better swims of the season for Iron in 47.30, having been a best of 47.05 back in Match 4.

Flying Splits

Kliment Kolesnikov picked up a lot of momentum last match, which included a pair of 45-second 100 free splits, and kept things rolling here with a massive 45.41 for Energy Standard. He’s quickly becoming their go-to guy on this relay, especially with Florent Manaudou sitting out until the semi-finals.

Kolesnikov dove in the water relatively even with Toronto’s Blake Pieroni. Pieroni then produced the third-fastest split in the field at 46.26, but was still trailing Kolesnikov by a full nine-tenths when he handed off to Brent Hayden on the anchor leg.

Hayden ran down Energy Standard closer Sergey Shevtsov, doing the majority of the damage on the second 50 to record his fastest split of the season in 46.19 (having previously been 46.49). Shevtsov split 47.20, as the Titans won the race by .11.

Shinri Shioura and Markus Thormeyer had a couple of strong 46s for Tokyo, managing to edge out Iron for third.

Women’s 400 Medley Relay

Backstroke Lead-offs

Breaststroke Splits

Butterfly Splits

Freestyle Splits

Energy Standard put on a clinic in the women’s medley relay, going 1-2 to score 32 points.

Emily Seebohm had her second-fastest 100 backstroke of the season leading off, edging Toronto’s Kylie Masse in 56.68, and then Benedetta Pilato made the lead almost three seconds with a blistering 1:03.03 breast split. That is far and away her fastest of the season, previously going 1:03.96 in Match 7.

Madeline Banic was the class of the butterfly field from Energy’s ‘B’ team, splitting 55.84 to Anastasiya Shkurdai‘s 56.21, and then Sjostrom and Heemskerk both hit 51s to finish things off.

It was a relatively disastrous performance from Toronto, placing fifth in 3:52.72 after hitting 3:48.50 in Match 6. No one was at their best, but Kelsey Wog was the most off, going 1:06.53 after having split 1:04-high multiple times on breast.

This opened the door for Iron and Tokyo to take third and fourth, with both clubs getting 1:04s on breast and 56s on fly, before Ranomi Kromowidjojo threw down the top anchor leg of 51.55 to put Iron third.

Men’s 400 Medley Relay

Backstroke Lead-offs

Breaststroke Splits

Butterfly Splits

Freestyle Splits

Kolesnikov was a star once again for Energy Standard in the men’s medley relay, leading off in 49.21 to narrowly miss his season-best of 49.16. Ryosuke Irie also snuck under 50 seconds for Tokyo, but Ilya Shymanovich added another second to Energy Standard’s lead with a quick 56.00 on breaststroke.

Takeshi Kawamoto gained a bit of ground on Chad Le Clos with a 49.49 100 fly leg, and then it was up to Shevtsov once again to anchor Energy Standard home. This time he got it done, holding off Frog King Markus Thormeyer in 47.07 to seal the win by half a second.

Thormeyer split 46.17, the fastest of his career and the second-fastest in the field behind only Blake Pieroni (46.15).

Butterfly continues to be a weak spot for the Toronto men, having the two slowest splits in the race, but strength everywhere else still allowed their ‘A’ team to grab third.