LOCAL WORLD CHAMPIONS HOSSZU, MILAK AND KAPAS HIGHLIGHT ISL BUDAPEST MATCH

ISL PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Over 100 Olympians are represented by the ISL, including 41 Olympic gold medals from the 2016 Olympic Games.

The International Swimming League will return to Europe on October 26th and 27th for the fourth match of the regular season as Budapest, Hungary, will play host at the Danube Arena. Tickets are on sale now starting as low as 1500 HUF (4.50 EUR).

• Click here to purchase tickets.

Four clubs will participate in the match: the LA Current, NY Breakers, Iron, and London Roar. These are the same four clubs that competed in the league’s previous match in Lewisville, Texas. After the six-match regular season, the top four clubs will advance to the grand final at the 12,000-seat Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The 2019 International Swimming League matches are being broadcast on television live, delayed-live and via dedicated highlights programming in countries throughout the world. Details of regular broadcasters by country appear below. For precise details of broadcaster coverage please check local listings.

Where to watch by region

• United States: ESPN3 – links will go live ahead of the match at http://www.espn.com/watch?id=5b193eab-acbd-41b1-9128-27128c989e34 (26/10) and http://www.espn.com/watch?id=894b42a0-cc02-4581-b3c4-0d3d6b3e32be (27/10)

• Europe and Asia-Pacific: Eurosport

• Australia: 7plus

• New Zealand: Spark

• Canada: CBC

• Latin America: Claro Sport

• Brazil: TV GloboKevin Reust

• Caribbean: FlowSports

• Israel: Sports 1

• Middle East/North Africa: Bein Sport

When to watch by region

Due to daylight savings time, some of the start times will change between Day 1 and Day 2.

• Local Budapest time – 6:00 p.m. (both days)

• New York, NY (Eastern)

  • Saturday – 12:00 p.m

  • Sunday – 1:00 p.m.

• Los Angeles, Ca. (Pacific)

  • Saturday – 9:00 a.m.

  • Sunday – 10:00 a.m.

• London, Eng. – 5:00 p.m. (both days)

• Tokyo, Jpn.

  • Saturday – 1:00 a.m. (next day)

  • Sunday – 2:00 a.m. (next day)

• Sydney, Aus.

  • Saturday – 3:00 a.m. (next day)

  • Sunday – 4:00 a.m. (next day)

Event Schedule

Format Details

• 4 teams (LA Current, NY Breakers, Iron, London Roar)

• The suggested size of each club’s traveling roster is 24 athletes (12 men & 12 women), plus 4 substitutes (2 men & 2 women), for a total of 28.

• 2 athletes will compete per event per club.

• 2 relay teams will compete per relay event per club.

• The winning club will score 4 standings points, 2nd place earns 3 points, 3rd place earns 2 points, and 4th place earns 1 point.

Scoring Rules

• The scoring for each event will be as follows:

Individual Prize Money

• Relays score double points; each swimmer receives 25% of team’s relay points.

• Skin races (three-race 50 freestyle eliminator) score triple points.

• In regular season meets, athletes earn $300 per point.

More ISL Info

Over 100 Olympians are represented in the ISL, including 41 Olympic gold medalists from the 2016 Olympic Games. The ISL is groundbreaking in the swimming community as athletes are paid both a salary and earn prize money based on their individual and club finishes. About $180,000 in prize money is awarded at each regular season match, with nearly $1.5 million in prize money available for December’s grand final in Las Vegas. Men and women share equal prize money.

The ISL is engaging sports fans over each competition weekend with high-tempo two-hour matches. Experts in television, digital media and sports entertainment will provide a compelling backdrop for the swimmers with cutting-edge production and live show fan engagement.

Among the athletes expected to compete in Budapest are current World Champions and local Hungarians Katinka Hosszu, Kristof Milak and Boglarka Kapas.

Hosszu, who is also an owner and general manager in addition to being a captain on the locally-based Iron club, is a three-time Olympic champion, nine-time Long Course World Champion, and the holder of six individual world records. In her debut ISL match in Lewisville, she won three events and was the third-highest point scorer overall.

Milak, 19, shocked the world this past July when he broke Michael Phelps’ 10-year-old 200 butterfly world record en route to winning World Championships gold in South Korea. An Iron teammate of Hosszu, he won the men’s 200 fly at the Lewisville match and placed second in the 400 freestyle.

Kapas is one of only three Hungarians in the ISL who are not members of Iron. The 26-year-old is a member of the London Roar, the club that won the first match, along with Budapest native Peter Bernek. Kapas is the current World Champion in the women’s 200 butterfly.

Joining Hosszu and Milak as Hungarians on Iron are Szebastian Szabo, Richard Bohus, Dominik Kozma, Adam Telegdy, David Verraszto, and Gergely Gyurta for the men, and Zsuzsanna Jakabos, Ajna Kesely, and Katalin Burian for the women.

Other Headline Swimmers Expected to Race:

• Set to make his ISL debut will be Adam Peaty of the London Roar, arguably the most dominant male swimmer in the world. Peaty, a native of Great Britain, is currently the Olympic champion in the men’s 100 breaststroke, as well as being the three-time defending World Champion and world record holder in both the 50 and 100 breast. Also expected to make their debut for the Roar is fellow Brit James Guy and 2016 Olympic champion Mireia Belmonte of Spain.

• Russian Vladimir Morozov of Iron was named MVP in Lewisville as the top scorer with 43.5 points. Like Hosszu, he won three events, one of which being the match-ending skins which are worth triple points. Morozov is one of the most decorated short course swimmers in the world, owning 20 SC World Championship medals.

• Australians Cate Campbell, Emma McKeon, Kyle Chalmers and Minna Atherton were the top performers for the victorious London Roar in their first match, combining for eight individual and four relay wins. Chalmers is the reigning Olympic champion in the men’s 100 freestyle, and Campbell, McKeon, and Cate’s sister Bronte Campbell are all members of the women’s 4×100 freestyle relay that both won Olympic gold (2016) and set the world record (2018).

• Headlining for the American-based LA Current are individual Olympic champions Nathan Adrian, Ryan Murphy and Matt Grevers. Grevers (2012) and Murphy (2016) represent the last two Olympic gold medalists in the men’s 100 backstroke, and Adrian was the champion in the men’s 100 freestyle in London and added a bronze in Rio.

• Danish superstar Pernille Blume of the NY Breakers is the reigning Olympic champion in the women’s 50 freestyle and the third-fastest swimmer of all-time in the event. Joining her on the Breakers is captain, co-owner and SC World Champion Michael Andrew of the United States.

Meet Details:

• Who: LA Current, NY Breakers, Team Iron, London Roar

• What: Fourth competition of the International Swimming League’s inaugural season

• Where: Danube Arena

Budapest, Népfürdő u. 36, 1138 Hungary

• When: Saturday, October 26th @ 6:00 p.m. & Sunday, October 27th @ 6:00 p.m. Each session is scheduled to run for two hours.

About the ISL: The International Swimming League is a global professional swimming competition launching in 2019 with teams in both Europe (Italy-based Aqua Centurions, France-based Energy Standard, Hungary-based Iron, and London Roar) and the United States (Cali Condors, DC Trident, LA Current, NY Breakers). The inaugural season will include matches in Indianapolis IN, Naples ITA, Lewisville TX, Budapest HUN, College Park MD, London GBR, and the championship finale at the 12,000-seat Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, NV. The ISL aims to create groundbreaking projects, in both form and content, exploring the full potential of competitive swimming while securing sustainable commercial growth in the sport.

Key Dates:

5-6 October 2019 – IU Natatorium, Indianapolis, USA

12-13 October 2019 – Aquatic Swimming Complex, Naples, Italy

19-20 October 2019 – The LISD Westside Aquatic Center, Lewisville, Texas, USA

26-27 October 2019 – Duna Area, Budapest, Hungary

16-17 November 2019 – Natatorium at the Eppley Recreation Center, Maryland, USA

23-24 November 2019 – London Aquatic Centre, Great Britain

20-21 December 2019 – Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, Las Vegas, USA

ISL SOCIAL: Keep up with all the latest ISL news by following @iswimleague on Instagram and Twitter and @internationalswimmingleague on Facebook. Visit https://isl.global

Media Contact: James Mulligan ([email protected])

International Swimming League Ltd

Alfred-Escher-Strasse 17, 8002 Zurich, Switzerland