{"id":486098,"date":"2021-08-30T05:30:10","date_gmt":"2021-08-30T12:30:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=486098"},"modified":"2021-08-29T16:39:59","modified_gmt":"2021-08-29T23:39:59","slug":"the-week-that-was-isl-begins-and-paralympic-racing-in-full-swing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/the-week-that-was-isl-begins-and-paralympic-racing-in-full-swing\/","title":{"rendered":"The Week That Was: ISL Begins and Paralympic Racing in Full Swing"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Week That Was sponsored by Suitmate.<\/em><\/p>\n

This week, the International Swimming League (ISL) got underway with its third season, and 2019 champion Energy Standard and 2020 champion Cali Condors were each victorious in their first meet, while\u00a0Coleman Stewart<\/strong> supplied the top individual swim with a world record. Meanwhile, the Paralympic swimming competition begin in Tokyo, and that has produced many world records through the first five days.<\/p>\n

Read the five biggest stories of the week in The Week That Was sponsored by Suitmate.<\/p>\n

The Week That Was #1: ISL Season 3 Begins, Coleman Stewart Breaks World Record<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\"Coleman

Coleman Stewart after breaking the 100 back world record during ISL match 2 — Photo Courtesy: Mike Lewis\/ISL<\/p><\/div>\n

By Matthew De George<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

When\u00a0Coleman Stewart<\/strong>\u00a0got the text from\u00a0Braden Holloway<\/strong> Saturday night, he didn\u2019t really have a good answer. Stewart had just set the American short-course record in the men\u2019s 100-meter backstroke, the NC State grad clocking in at 48.91 seconds off the men\u2019s medley relay. And his Wolfpack coach had a valid question: \u201cDude, what just happened?\u201d<\/p>\n

If Stewart didn\u2019t have an answer Saturday, the Cali Condor was even more at a loss for words Sunday when he blasted the world record in the event, going 48.33 seconds.<\/p>\n

Stewart was all-around sensational for the Condors,\u00a0who dominated ISL Match 2<\/a>\u00a0with a league-record 707 points to get the victory over the LA Current, Tokyo Frog Kings and NY Breakers. Stewart helped the cause at every turn, including a 47-point output in the men\u2019s backstroke skins to clinch the win.<\/p>\n

Against the clock, though, Stewart was even more impressive. The debut season of ISL in 2019 yielded three world records. That was upped to nine individual world records (in six events) in 2020, but\u00a0all came in the semifinals and final<\/a>. A world record in the preliminary matches is stunning; to do it in the opening match of the season is utterly gob smacking.<\/p>\n

\u201cShort-course meters is kind of my bread-and-butter, just because I kick off the wall a lot,\u201d Stewart said in a virtual mixed zone. \u201cIt\u2019s a little different than short-course yards, but I\u2019m glad to be back my wheelhouse. It was pretty cool to get that record.\u201d<\/p>\n

The swim downs the ISL and world record set last November by Energy Standard\u2019s\u00a0Kliment Kolesnikov<\/strong> at 48.58.\u00a0Stewart had gone 48.91\u00a0on Saturday to clip<\/a>\u00a0.01 off\u00a0Matt Grevers\u2019<\/strong>\u00a0American record from 2015. Sunday, the mustachioed Stewart trounced that, taking it out at a savage pace of 23.45 and holding on to make history and take a full jackpot over the field at 37 points.<\/p>\n

Read all about the action from the first two ISL matches of the season. In match 1, stars like Sarah Sjostrom<\/strong>,\u00a0Chad le Clos<\/strong>,\u00a0Siobhan Haughey<\/strong> and\u00a0Evgeny Rylov<\/strong> each picked up wins for Energy Standard while 15-year-old\u00a0Summer McIntosh<\/strong> elevated the Toronto Titans. In match 2, Stewart’s records along with\u00a0Caeleb Dressel’s\u00a0<\/strong>four individual and three relay wins helped give the Condors an easy victory, while\u00a0Daiya Seto<\/strong> was very impressive in his first meet since a very disappointing Tokyo Olympics, recording four victories.<\/p>\n

Match recaps:<\/strong><\/p>\n