{"id":491219,"date":"2021-11-11T06:07:44","date_gmt":"2021-11-11T13:07:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=491219"},"modified":"2021-11-11T06:07:44","modified_gmt":"2021-11-11T13:07:44","slug":"versatile-mary-sophie-harvey-paying-dividends-for-energy-standard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/versatile-mary-sophie-harvey-paying-dividends-for-energy-standard\/","title":{"rendered":"Versatile Mary-Sophie Harvey Paying Dividends for Energy Standard"},"content":{"rendered":"

Versatile Mary-Sophie Harvey Paying Dividends for Energy Standard<\/strong><\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t take long for the coaches of Energy Standard to trust Mary-Sophie Harvey<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Then 20 years old, the Canadian wasn\u2019t the highest profile founding member of Energy Standard in 2019 for the inaugural season of the International Swimming League. As someone whose preferred events then were \u201cthe tough ones\u201d \u2013 200 butterfly, 400 individual medley \u2013 she wasn\u2019t exactly in the wheelhouse of the ISL program.<\/p>\n

But in that first season, the Quebec native managed to wear down coaches James Gibson<\/strong> and Tom Rushton.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe first season, I was always like, \u2018I\u2019m sure I can do a good 100 free. I really want to do a relay,\u2019\u201d Harvey told Swimming World<\/em> recently. \u201cAnd I didn\u2019t get to. And the second season, they were like, \u2018OK, you\u2019re going to do a relay.\u2019 And I think I surprised them and surprised myself also, so I ended up doing most of the relays last season.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"HARVEY

Energy Standard’s Mary-Sophie Harvey; Photo Courtesy: Photo Giorgio Scala \/ Deepbluemedia \/ Insidefoto<\/p><\/div>\n

So when the 22-year-old reported to Naples for ISL Season 3 and told the Energy staff that she felt ready to change things up over shorter distances, their faith in Harvey was built up. And she has delivered.<\/p>\n

Energy Standard is chasing its second title in three years. And while the headliners remain all-purpose speedsters like Sarah Sjostrom<\/strong> and Siobhan Haughey,<\/strong> Harvey has been an under-the-radar contributor across the board.<\/p>\n

Harvey has two wins this season, in the 100 IM and 200 IM. But she is tied for second in ISL with top-10 times in five different events<\/a>, trailing only the Cali Condors\u2019 Beata Nelson.<\/strong> (Haughey and Sjostrom, the latter of whom swam only three prelims meets, are in the top 10 in four events.) Harvey ranks in the top 10 in the 200 back, 200 IM, 50 back, 100 back and 100 IM. She\u2019s even contributed twice in skins races.<\/p>\n

Much of that stems from Harvey\u2019s work to reinvent herself. She has remarkable range, having swum the 200 free, 400 free and 400 IM at the 2017 World Championships. At the 2019 Pan Am Games, she won silver in the 200 fly and 800 free relay, bronze in the 400 IM and silver in the 400 medley relay for a prelims breaststroke leg. She was part of Canada\u2019s Olympic squad in Tokyo on the 800 free relay.<\/p>\n