Sarah Sjostrom Named ‘MVP’ of Inaugural International Swimming League Season

Sarah Sjostrom celebrates the 50 Skins win in Las Vegas. Photo Courtesy: Gian Mattia D'Alberto/LaPresse

Sarah Sjostrom was named the Most Valuable Player for scoring the most points in the first season of the International Swimming League. The league concluded in Las Vegas at the Mandalay Bay Resort on Saturday as Sjostrom helped her team Energy Standard edge the London Roar by 9.5 points.

“The main thing was to take points for my team all the way,” Sjostrom said. “MVP is a big moment of course, I am very, very happy that I was able to take this final also. I was racing some of my best competitors in almost every race I have so I am not used to that type of racing that often – it was a very good experience for me to race with that much pressure so often.

“I felt like I was swimming world champs four times this season. So that is very exciting. I am very, very happy that we finally get started with this competition and to win was outstanding.”

Sjostrom also edged out Caeleb Dressel of the Cali Condors for the season MVP award as men and women were treated equally in the race for the MVP award.

“I think this is one of the best parts about the ISL – that we race against the men. It was so cool. I was racing against Chad (le Clos) for the MVP title even if we are team-mates. It was very exciting that I finally got the chance to compete against men.

“Maybe in the future they will do four rounds in the skins and I can race Flo. I actually talked about that with Konstantin and he said it was a good idea so I am looking forward to that.”

Sjostrom had to win the 50 free Skins in order to clinch the MVP title ahead of Dressel. Sjostrom finished second in the 100 free and 50 fly earlier on Saturday and on Friday, she won the 50 free and was second in the 100 butterfly.

The winning moment for Sjostrom:

Final Team Scores:

Energy Standard – 453.5
London Roar – 444
Cali Condors – 415.5
L.A. Current – 318

Final MVP Standings:

Sarah Sjostrom, Energy, 243.5
Caeleb Dressel, Condors, 240
Emma McKeon, Roar, 192
Chad Le Clos, Energy, 190.5
Olivia Smoliga, Condors, 174.5
Florent Manaudou, Energy, 169.5
Lilly King, Condors, 157.5
Minna Atherton, Roar, 157
Beryl Gastaldello, Current, 156
Tom Shields, Current, 153.5

Sarah Sjostrom will receive a $50,000 USD bonus for having the most points scored throughout the season, and her Energy Standard teammates will all receive $10,000 USD bonus for winning the final match.

Energy Standard Men’s Roster

Simonas Bilis, LTU
Anton Chupkov, RUS
Ivan Girev, RUS
Kliment Kolesnikov, RUS
Chad le Clos, RSA
Max Litchfield, GBR
Florent Manaudou, FRA
Ben Proud, GBR
Mykhailo Romanchuk, UKR
Evgeny Rylov, RUS
Daiya Seto, JPN
Sergii Shevtsov, UKR
Ilya Shymanovich, BLR
Maxim Stupin, RUS
Kregor Zirk, EST

Energy Standard Women’s Roster

Charlotte Bonnet, FRA
Imogen Clark, GBR
Georgia Davies, GBR
Viktoria Gunes, TUR
Mary-Sophie Harvey, CAN
Femke Heemskerk, NED
Fantine Lesaffre, FRA
Penny Oleksiak, CAN
Kayla Sanchez, CAN
Emily Seebohm, AUS
Anastasiya Shkurdai, BLR
Sarah Sjostrom, SWE
Kierra Smith, CAN
Rebecca Smith, CAN
Jocelyn Ulyett, GBR

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