The London Roar walked away with their second consecutive match victory at the International Swimming League’s match in Budapest, scoring 505 points to lead runner-up Iron by 80.
Roar head coach Melanie Marshall credited a lot of the club’s success to their athletes buying into the team.
"It's been unbelievable, I think I'm going to need three days just to get my voice back to be honest,” she said post-match. “The team has been absolutely outstanding. The staff, and in particular the athletes, they've had to step up and swim back-to-back, and not one of them has moaned. There's been no egos, it's been all about the team's contribution to performance, so it's been a really special two days.”
The Roar now look forward to their next match November 23rd and 24th, where they’ll face the three other European-based clubs at home.
“We've got the momentum, and now we're going home,” said Marshall. “London's going home. So I can't wait to take the team into London."
Marshall and the rest of the club’s coaching staff focused on strategic moves throughout the match that would benefit them, and they will carry that experience gained in Budapest forward through the rest of the season.
“We spent a lot of time last night and a lot of time this morning just going through things, checking where we can get the small wins,” she said. “We made some good tactical decisions today. There's a lot of learning from these last two days, and there's still more improvements that we can make into the next round and then hopefully the round beyond that.”
The team-first mindset that the Roar had was matched by the LA Current, who had their athletes chomping at the bit to race as much as possible to contribute to their point-total.
“I’m so proud,” said Current coach Dave Marsh on how his club had pulled together on Day 2. “Tell you what, these guys are asking for these doubles. I had to beg Tom Shields to not do (the mixed free) relay so he'd be fresh for the 200 fly. He was absolutely dying to do it.”
“These guys all want to step up, they all want to swim multiple events, they want to score points, and that's what the ISL is all about. What's so awesome about this is that it's all about points, it's not about times. Very unique in swimming.”
The top performer over the course of the two days was local Hungarian superstar Katinka Hosszu, who scored 47 points to win match MVP, awarded to the athlete who scores the most points for his or her club.
The 30-year-old competed in seven different events, coming away with victories in the women’s 200 butterfly, and the 200 and 400 individual medley. The fast-paced nature of the ISL, forcing athletes to race back-to-back events in a short period of time, is something Hosszu is very accustomed to and thrives on.
"I love to race, I think you guys could see tonight, it's all about the race and fighting,” she said.
Hosszu led her Iron club to a 23-point improvement from their first match, moving them up one spot in the standings. They leapfrogged the LA Current, taking second to the London Roar.
“I think we needed that first meet just to get used to the pace, short course, and just having a team,” said Hosszu in a post-match press conference. “Really cheering for each other and coming together as a team, and everyone swimming for the team.”
“We really managed to improve a lot. Obviously we finished second, I think it's an amazing performance because the lineup hasn't changed that much (from Lewisville), but everybody stepped up their game and we were much better than LA.”
Moving forward, Iron have their backs against the wall if they want to advance to the League Final in Las Vegas after two of the other European clubs - Energy Standard and London - both earned the maximum eight points in their first two matches. The top-two European and top-two American clubs will advance to Vegas, making Iron’s path there very improbable.
Despite this, Hosszu isn’t ready to give in. Iron will have their chance to race both of those clubs, along with the Aqua Centurions, in the European derby match in London on November 23rd and 24th.
"We really need to step up our game in London, but I don't think it's a lost game, we are definitely still fighting,” she said. “In London, it will be the four European teams in the match, so it will be really interesting to see how the points will divide up. It will obviously be Energy Standard, London, and us fighting for each point. It should be super exciting.”
For London captain Adam Peaty, he was making his ISL debut after missing last weekend’s match in Lewisville. The Olympic gold medalist loved what he saw over the two days.
"This is a new generation of swimming,” he said. “It's compact, it's tight, the races are fast even though we're all in hard training, and it's just an amazing thing to experience."
The highlight of the night in the pool was the performance of Minna Atherton, who broke the world record in the women’s 100 backstroke in a time of 54.89. The swim marks the first time a world record has fallen in the ISL, and she broke the record while swimming next to Hosszu, the former record-holder.
“It’s amazing, I just can’t even really believe it yet,” said Atherton shortly after the race. “It’s really exciting. I’m super happy with that swim, especially with my relay swim just before, I’m just stoked.”
In her first swim, she narrowly missed the record, which previously stood at 55.03, while leading off the London Roar’s medley relay. There she swam a 55.12.
“The first time, I just went out for my team, and obviously I was just a bit off. I just came out for my second one and gave it a red-hot crack.”
Capping off Day 2 was the skins events, the three-round 50 free eliminator (8-4-2) that are worth triple points in the final.
Kyle Chalmers emerged victorious in the men’s event for the London Roar, making up for the misstep he made one week ago where he failed to advance out of the opening round.
“It's something I struggled to do in Dallas is get through that second round,” said Chalmers after the race. “I absolutely gave it on that first 50, tried to give it my best. It's been a big night, that was the third event of the night, but I knew to be in that top-4 I had to be on my best time.”
In the women’s event, Ranomi Kromowidjojo of Iron repeated her win from Lewisville, lifting her club to a second-place finish in the match.
"I really loved it,” said an out-of-breath Kromowidjojo post-race. “It was fun, the whole team cheering for me, all the Hungarian people. I really loved it.”
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 (james.mulligan@isl.global)
International Swimming League Ltd
Alfred-Escher-Strasse 17, 8002 Zurich, Switzerland
29 October 2019
