CAELEB DRESSEL DOMINATES HIS WAY TO LAS VEGAS MVP VICTORY

Caeleb Dressel continued his dominance in the International Swimming League’s inaugural season with a massive performance in the Grand Finale, earning his third MVP title with a match-leading 121 points.

The points in the final counted double relative to what they were worth during the regular season, which is why Dressel’s total is so much higher than he’s been in previous matches (61.5 was his top score from College Park).

The Cali Condor male captain tore things up on Day 1, winning a pair of individual events in the men’s 100 butterfly and 50 freestyle. In the 50 free, he broke a five-year-old world record in a time of 20.24 seconds, lowering the previous mark of 20.26 held by Energy Standard’s Florent Manaudou.

Dressel, 23, kept his momentum going on Day 2, winning both the 100 free and 50 fly in American Record time. And then, to close things out, he put an exclamation mark on his incredible season in the epic skins finale (the three-round 50 free eliminator).

Dressel eased through the first two rounds before demolishing France’s Florent Manaudou in the head-to-head final, winning by over two seconds.

Dressel became the first swimmer to win multiple MVP titles when he won his second at the US-Derby in College Park, and now wins a historic third in as many matches in the final. The American finishes the season having won 14 of the 16 individual events he entered (including skins races).

Energy Standard’s Sarah Sjostrom was a distant second in the Vegas MVP race, 29 points back with 92. Sjostrom, who competed in four matches this season relative to Dressel’s three, edged him out in the ISL Season MVP race by just 3.5 points to earn an extra $50K. The match MVP award earns Dressel $10K.

True to his character, Dressel was more focused on his team’s accomplishments in the final relative to his outstanding individual showing. The Condors placed third with 415.5 points, well above their projected scores coming in.

“I’m incredibly proud of this team,” he said when receiving the MVP award. “We weren’t supposed to do as well as we did, what was written on paper, but that’s why we come to the meet.”

And, just moments after wrapping up his season, he started looking forward to the 2020 campaign.

“We definitely want to get a championship out of this team, and I would love to do it with the same people that are on the team with me right now.”

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 3,800-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