{"id":446169,"date":"2020-09-09T09:06:00","date_gmt":"2020-09-09T16:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=446169"},"modified":"2020-09-22T16:03:44","modified_gmt":"2020-09-22T23:03:44","slug":"isl-expansion-teams-toronto-titans-tokyo-frog-kings-reveal-rosters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/isl-expansion-teams-toronto-titans-tokyo-frog-kings-reveal-rosters\/","title":{"rendered":"ISL Expansion Teams Toronto Titans, Tokyo Frog Kings Reveal Rosters"},"content":{"rendered":"

ISL Expansion Teams Toronto Titans, Tokyo Frog Kings Reveal Inaugural Rosters<\/strong><\/p>\n

The success of the inaugural International Swimming League (ISL) season propelled the league to add two new teams for its second season, increasing its international reach into Canada and Japan. Wednesday\u2019s kickoff press conference included the release of the inaugural rosters for the Toronto Titans and the Tokyo Frog Kings.<\/p>\n

Toronto boasts more ISL experience, with 13 swimmers who took part in the inaugural season, plus a veteran hand in Brent Hayden,<\/strong> who\u2019s come out of retirement. The team, overseen by general manager Rob Kent,<\/strong> is coached by Byron McDonald<\/strong> and backed by a spine of top Canadian talent, including Yuri Kisil, Kelsey<\/strong> Wog, Kayla Sanchez<\/strong> and Kylie Masse.
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“I had a fantastic time last year in the ISL and this season, as everyone has mentioned, it\u2019ll look a bit different and it\u2019ll be a bit different for us swimmers and athletes,” Masse said during Wednesday’s introductory press conferene<\/a>. “But I think that will be a great challenge and it gives us an opportunity to race when we don\u2019t have any other races available to us, and I\u2019m looking forward to the different setup and this challenge.”<\/p>\n

Canadian international Penny Oleksiak,<\/strong> rumored to be joining the Titans, was absent from Wednesday’s rosters, as is Russian Anton Chupkov. <\/strong>Sanchez was omitted from the rosters revealed by ISL, but Kent confirmed that she is on the team.<\/p>\n

The Frog Kings are overwhelmingly composed of Japanese swimmers. The only Japanese swimmer in the ISL last year was Daiya Seto<\/strong> with Energy Standard, who joins the Tokyo outfit. The expansion to Tokyo under the aegis of breaststroke legend Koskuke Kitajima<\/strong> has brought out many of the nation\u2019s top talents, including Ryosuke Irie, Kosuke Hagino<\/strong> and Yui Ohashi.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I first saw ISL season 1, I could not believe that such a platform was created for top swimmers,\u201d Kitajima said in a prepared statement Wednesday. \u201cI jumped at the chance to create a team in Tokyo. 2020 has seen the world totally changed, and swimmers were shocked that most competitions were cancelled. I want to thank everyone at the ISL for believing in this project to bring the opportunity to all swimmers. Tokyo Frog Kings are proud to be a part of the second season of ISL. I hope that this year\u2019s races will help to promote swimming and bring hope and enjoyment to all sports fans.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dave Salo<\/strong> is the team\u2019s technical director. Two Americans, Leah Smith<\/strong> and Catie DeLoof,<\/strong> are on the team, among only three of the 16 Frog King women who swam in ISL in 2019.<\/p>\n

(ISL 2019 team in parenthesis)<\/p>\n

Toronto Titans<\/h3>\n
\"michael-chadwick-\"

Michael Chadwick; Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick<\/p><\/div>\n

Men<\/h4>\n