MATCH 2 RECAP

AUGUST 28 – 29

In the second game of the ISL Season 3, last year’s champion, Cali Condors, faced two American teams the LA Current and the NY Breakers, as well as the Tokyo Frog Kings. This game followed a different script than the previous one, with little intrigue, as the Condors jumped out to an early lead, steadily increasing it to a fantastic 305 points. The only intrigue in the course of the game was whether the TOK would catch up with the LAC, but TOR didn’t pull out all their trump cards and stayed in third place.

Final result:
CAC – 707 (4 club points)
LAC – 402.5 (3)
TOK – 382.5 (2)
NYB – 269 (1)

It’s deeply symbolic that both the women’s and men’s backstroke skins finals were fought by the Condors: Beata NELSON beat Sherridon DRESSEL and Coleman STEWART beat Justin RESS with a jackpot.   

STEWART was the MVP of the match, scoring a fantastic 95 points and was the first in ISL history to collect a full jackpot in the men’s 100m backstroke – 37 points. In addition, he set two world records in the event: in 50 and 100 meters!

The great Caeleb DRESSEL scored 30 points in the 100 m backstroke with his Polish teammate Marcin CIESLAK who was second and scored 7 points. So the Kondors also achieved a maximum of 37 points in that heat, leaving nothing to their rivals.

It should be recalled that during the last Olympics in Tokyo DRESSEL took 5 gold medals – 50 and 100 meters freestyle, 100 meters butterfly, as well as the U.S. team in the 4×100 – freestyle and mixed relay, the same relay where Caeleb took two golds at the Olympic Games in 2016. Caeleb DRESSEL is currently the world’s most titled swimmer. In addition to the Olympic gold, he has 19 world champion victories in the “long” and “short” water in various disciplines.

And if it wasn’t for a small surprise loss to TOK’s Takeshi KAWAMOTO in the 50m butterfly, Caeleb could have been the MVP without a skin race. In addition to the above, he won the 100m butterfly, 50m and 100m freestyle and contributed to the Condor’s 4x100m freestyle relay, 4x100m men’s relay and mixed relay.

DRESSEL’s sister, Sherridon, backed up her brother’s momentum by winning the women’s 50 and 100 meter backstroke.

Lilly KING, a two-time gold medalist at the 2016 Olympics (100 meter breaststroke and 4×100 mixed relay) and two-time silver medalist in Tokyo (200 meter breaststroke and 4×100 mixed relay) won her crowning distances, the 100 and 200 meter breaststroke, and also contributed to CAC victory in the women’s 4×100 meter relay. In the 50m she was 0.12 seconds behind her teammate Molly HANNIS and added 7 points to her Jackpot of 19.

On the other hand, Yui OHASHI of TOK, the two-time Olympic Champion in Tokyo 200 m and 400 m medley was far from her best form: she was only 3rd and 2nd respectively in her home distances. Both times it was Abbie WOOD of the New York Breakers who took the first place.

The main “slaughterer” of the team from Tokyo was quite predictably Daiya SETO, who was 3rd in the MVP of the match (63 points, higher than the result of the MVP of the first match of the season). He won the 200m breaststroke, 200m medley, 200m butterfly and 400m medley (also being the first to clear the 100m mark ).

Moreover, the Frogs got double victories (1-2 places in a swim) in the men’s 50m, 100m and 200m breaststroke as well as the 200m backstroke.

American Abbey WEITZEIL was the best of the LAC (41.5) as she swapped her Olympic gold in the 4x100m medley relay and silver in the 4x100m freestyle relay won in Rio de Janeiro for silver and bronze in the same events in Tokyo. She won the 50m and 100m freestyle (the latter was a double win for Current) and was a strong contributor to the LAC victory in the 4x100m freestyle relay.

The winners of various events from LAC were Madison WILSON – 200m freestyle, Valentine DUMONT – 400m freestyle (finishing 3rd in the 100m mark). The doubles victory in the 200m freestyle event for the Flux (Fernando SHEFFER and Martin MALYUTIN) should also be noted.   

At NYB, apart from the previously mentioned British athlete Abbie WOOD, who contributed 48 points to the Breakers, Russian Svetlana CHIMROVA contributed 26 points and won the 200m butterfly as well as Brendon SMITH of Australia won the 400m freestyle (2nd place at the 100m mark).

Overall, Cali Condors’ dominance was undeniable, making this club the main favorite of the season. However, we will see the full picture when London Roar enters the battle.

ABOUT THE ISL: The International Swimming League is the first global professional swimming team-based competition. Founded in 2018, the league currently consists of 10 teams based in North America (Cali Condors, DC Trident, LA Current, NY Breakers and Toronto Titans), Europe (Italy-based Aqua Centurions, Energy Standard, Hungary-based Iron, and the UK-based London Roar) and Asia (Tokyo Frog Kings).

ISL Season 3 will take place in three phases, with Naples, Italy, first playing host to the 10 ISL clubs in a five-week regular season from 26 August to 30 September. This will be followed by a Play-off phase of three weeks in November, which will bring together the top eight ISL Clubs to compete for a spot in the ISL Final. The ISL Grand Final is set to take place at the end of December or early January 2022, when the ISL Champions will be crowned.

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