Something has to give in ISL Match Eight: Both the Cali Condors and London Roar enter their third match of the International Swimming League without a loss to their records. The teams are tied for second in the season standings with eight points each, trailing only LA Current (which has the benefit of an extra match).
Both teams are through to the semifinals, but Thursday’s second match in the doubleheader is a chance to lay down a marker for what could be a preview of the finals, particularly in the skins match.
Also in the pool are the NY Breakers, in their fourth and final match of the season, and the Tokyo Frog Kings. The teams are tied for sixth in the team standings, and whoever gets third gets a leg up on the race for a semifinals berth.
Team Scores (through Day 1)
- Cali Condors 255
- London Roar 246.5
- Tokyo Frog Kings 210
- New York Breakers 167.5
MVP Standings
- Caeleb Dressel, Cali Condors 34
- Lilly King, Cali Condors 25.5
- Adam Peaty, London Roar 21
- Kira Toussaint, London Roar 19.5
- Olivia Smoliga, Cali Condors 19
- Arina Surkova, NY Breakers 17.8
- Kelsi Dahlia, Cali Condors 16.8
- Christian Deiner, London Roar 16
- Michael Andrew, London Roar 16
- Beata Nelson, Cali Condors 16
- Natsumi Sakai, Tokyo Frog Kings 16
Where to watch ISL Match Eight:
- BeIn Sports
- Belarus TV and Radio Company
- BBC
- CBS
- CBC
- Claro Sports
- ESPN (Central America)
- Eurosport
- Eurosport India
- M4
- Match TV
- Seven
- Sky, Gazetta Dello Sport
- Sport 1
- Sportklub
- TV Asahi
- TV Globo
Women’s 100 Butterfly
What a start to ISL Match Eight, with Kelsi Dahlia of the Condors outdueling Marie Wattel to the wall by .01 seconds to get the win. Dahlia clocked in at 56.15, and stole a point from the eighth-place Roar finisher to give the Condors the early initiative.
“I’m really in shock,” Dahlia said on the broadcast, saying that she’s been dealing with neck pain through a heavy week of training. “It’s been a hard week. These are great competitors and I’m really, really happy with that.”
Men’s 100 Butterfly
The excitement for Caeleb Dressel at the wall was perhaps less for yet another win this season or for his quickest time of the campaign, a 49.33. But with fellow Condor Marcin Cieslak turning in his best time of the season by nearly a second, the Condors take a 1-2 to gain more ground. Third was London’s Vini Lanza.
Women’s 200 Backstroke
Beata Nelson delivered a huge back half of the race to surge to the win, obliterating the field off the wall and scoring huge jackpot points, 12 in total plus five from fourth-place Hali Flickinger. Nelson’s time was 2:02.31. Natsumi Sakai rode a strong front half to second for Tokyo, with London’s Kira Toussaint third.
Men’s 200 Backstroke
The Condors are brandishing their depth again, making it 4-for-4 to start the match via Radoslaw Kawecki. He worked the third 50 to pull away and clock the second-fastest time of the ISL season at 1:48.12, more than a second up on the field and taking a jackpot of 12 points. Tokyo’s Ryosuke Irie was second with London’s Christian Diener fading to third.
Women’s 200 Breaststroke
Another day, another Lilly King win, another Lilly King record. The breaststroke queen made it 28-for-28 in ISL, undercutting her ISL record with a 2:15.80 on the strength of a strong font half. But Emily Escobedo nearly charged her down, finishing second in 2:16.51, a lifetime best and a 2-4 finish for the Breakers with Molly Renshaw. Annie Lazor of London was third.
Men’s 200 Breaststroke
A non-Condor finally got their hand to the wall first with Marco Koch of the Breakers winning and picking up 15 points via the jackpot with a time of 2:01.40. Tokyo’s Yasuhiro Koseki was second with Kirill Prigoda of London third.
Adam Peaty was fifth. Cali’s Nic Fink, the ISL record-holder at the end of last year, finished eighth in his first match back from a wrist injury.
Women’s 400 Freestyle Relay
Anna Hopkin took the lead off the final turn, coming home in 51.71 to give the Roar a huge victory to move them up to second place in the team standings. The team of Freya Anderson, Maria Kameneva, Marie Wattel and Hopkins clocked in at 3:28.72, 0.23 seconds ahead of the Condors (Olivia Smoliga, Natalie Hinds, Erika Brown, Allison Schmitt). Tokyo was a distant third.
Men’s 50 Freestyle
The expected showdown between Caeleb Dressel and Vlad Morozov turned into a lot of swimmers in Dressel’s wash. The Condor dominated start to finish, his best time of the season and second in ISL at 20.65 seconds. Michael Andrew powered into second for the Breakers with Morozov third in 21.20. With Justin Ress in fifth and a Dressel jackpot, the Condors pick up 16 points in the event.
Women’s 50 Freestyle
The Kasia Wasick show rolls on, the fastest 50 freestyler in the league this season adding another win in 23.47, a tenth off her fastest but still the third-quickest time of the season. She authored a 1-2 with Arina Surkova, yielding the Breakers a haul of 19 points, including a 12-point Wasick jackpot. Third was London’s Maria Kameneva with teammate Freya Anderson fourth.
Men’s 200 IM
Andreas Vazaios took down Kosuke Hagino again, improving his ISL 2020 best time to 1:52.41, a margin of .28 on Hagino. London also got third place from Duncan Scott in an event where the Condors were shutout out, creeping within four points of Cali.
Women’s 200 IM
In what commentator Rowdy Gaines billed as ISL Match Eight’s race of the day, Melanie Margalis seized the initiative on the breaststroke leg and swam away with the win for the Condors, a time of 2:04.18. It’s within a tenth of her American record from earlier in the season. Yui Ohashi of Tokyo surged to second, with teammate Miho Teramura fourth. Abbie Wood of the Breakers led after 100 meters and finished third.
Men’s 50m Breaststroke
Adam Peaty charged on the final 10 meters to get to the wall first and outduel Caeleb Dressel in a star-studded showdown. Peaty’s time was 25.98. Michael Andrew snuck in to second in 26.14, with Dressel in 26.15. Kirill Prigoda was fourth, Vlad Morozov sixth. The points allow the Roar to leapfrog into the lead.
Women’s 50m Breaststroke
The titanic duel between Lilly King and Alia Atkinson had an interloper in Molly Hannis. King, however, prevailed, making it 29-for-29 in ISL event wins, surging in the final 15 meters and surviving a long finish to win in 29.20, .05 ahead of fellow Condor Hannis. Atkinson settled for third for the Roar, the only other swimmer to crack 30 seconds.
Men’s 400 Freestyle Relay
Caeleb Dressel brought home Condors for a win and 18 huge points, the rotated squad of Kacper Majchrzak, Justin Ress and Marcin Cieslak got to the wall first in 3:06.07. London was a second behind with Tokyo third and New York fourth, reflecting the team standings.
Women’s 50 Backstroke
Quicker off the start and using her height to get into the wall, Kira Toussaint nipped Olivia Smoliga to the wall, the Roar swimmer clocking in at 25.79, a tenth ahead of Smoliga. Natsumi Sakai continued Tokyo’s quietly solid showing by finishing third.
Men’s 50 Backstroke
A mustachioed Coleman Stewart is better than a suddenly beardless Guilherme Guido, apparently. The ISL rookie pulled an upset for the Condors, working his wall beautifully to rally for a win in 23.21 seconds, getting his hand to the wall .08 ahead of Christian Diener and .10 up on Guido, denying what could easily have been a London 1-2. Instead, the Condors stalemate the event, with both teams carrying 13 points.
Women’s 400 Freestyle
The wait to swim for Leah Smith, and the wait for a win for Tokyo, paid off, Smith dominating the field to win the event in 3:59.70. She had been running 1-2 most of the way with teammate Chihiro Igarashi, but she faded to fourth. Second was Hali Flickinger of Cali, with New York’s Boglarka Kapas third.
“I’m pumped to get under four minutes,” Smith said on the broadcast. “I was hoping to do that last meet, but I’m happy to get there today.”
Men’s 400 Freestyle
Felix Aubock picked up another win, going 3:39.05 in a smartly paced race. The Breakers picked up 14 points in the event, with Brendon Smith fourth. Aubock needed to be on his game to hold off Townley Haas, the Condors swimmer turning in a lifetime best at 3:39.51. Third was Tokyo’s Katsuhiro Matsumoto.
Women’s 400 Medley Relay
Olivia Smoliga put the Condors into clean water that they never relinquished, giving Cali control of the skins choice. The team of Smoliga, King, Dahlia and Hinds won in 3:47.79, just doing enough to hold off the charge by a 51.15 anchor leg from Freya Anderson and the Roar (Toussaint, Atkinson, Wattel, Anderson) by .12 seconds. Tokyo was third with New York fourth.
Men’s 400 Medley Relay
Within a tenth of a second at each of the three handoffs, it took Duncan Scott outfoxing Vlad Morozov on the anchor leg to take London to the victory over a game Tokyo side. The Roar squad (Guido, Peaty, Lanza, Scott) clocked in at 3:22.97, ahead of Tokyo (Irie, Koseki, Kawamoto, Morozov). London added a third-place result to yield 32 points in the race. The Condors could only tally fourth and seventh. The Breakers got just eight points from the race, with a DQ of the B relay.
It puts London in striking distance for Day 2 of ISL Match Eight, just 9.5 points behind the Condors.
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- ISL WEBSITE
- SEASON 2 SCHEDULE
- EUROPEAN ROSTERS
- AMERICAN ROSTERS
- TOKYO & TORONTO NEW ROSTERS
- CBS TV AGREEMENT
- MATCH ONE RESULTS (CONDORS, ENERGY, CURRENT, BREAKERS)
- MATCH TWO RESULTS (ROAR, IRON, TRIDENT, CENTURIONS)
- MATCH THREE RESULTS (CURRENT, FROG KINGS, TITANS, CENTURIONS)
- MATCH FOUR RESULTS (CONDORS, IRON, BREAKERS, TRIDENT)
- MATCH FIVE RESULTS (ROAR, CURRENT, FROG KINGS, TRIDENT)
- MATCH SIX RESULTS (ENERGY, TITANS, BREAKERS, CENTURIONS)
- MATCH SEVEN RESULTS (ENERGY, IRON, TITANS, TRIDENT)
- MATCH EIGHT RESULTS (CONDORS, ROAR, FROG KINGS, BREAKERS)
- MATCH NINE RESULTS (ENERGY, FROG KINGS, IRON, TITANS)
- MATCH TEN RESULTS (CONDORS, CURRENT, ROAR, CENTURIONS)
- SEMI ONE RESULTS
- SEMI TWO RESULTS
- GRAND FINAL RESULTS