International Swimming League Final
Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, Las Vegas, December 20-21
The European Derby win by a close margin over London Roar behind him and Team Energy Standard, head coach James Gibson summed up perfectly why crystal-ball -gazing the outcome of the first International Swimming League of four tough teams is a game for the foolish, the fanciful or for tacticians and supporters who understand the strength in sidling up to the blocks as perceived underdog when the truth is closer to a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
On the morning of battle at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Gibson pointed to two reasons why teams can neither give nor assume an inch.
The 2003 World sprint breaststroke champion-turned mentor, Gibson confirmed that Energy would be bolstered by two swimmers who will make their League debuts in Vegas: Daiya Seto, Japan’s double World medley champion, one of the most versatile weapons in world water, and Jocelyn Ulyett, who leads the world rankings over 200m breaststroke this season with a 2:17.10 clocked at the English short-course nationals run Sheffield last week.
,Swimming World’s Male Pacific Rim Swimmer of the Year – Japan’s Daiya Seto Ranks Among the Sport’s Underappreciated Stars – Seto is a household name in Japan as Tokyo prepares to host the 2020 Olympic Games.
He and Ulyett bring fresh and undeniable strength to Energy. Gibson also understands well that his team will not be the only one arriving for the fight with reasons to think it has a shot at victory. Each must play to every strength each swimmer can muster, each coach can calculate for. Gibson tells Swimming World:
“The ISL format has delivered four very deep strong teams for the final. People are making assumptions on who the winners will be, but I believe the final will be more unpredictable than any match so far. Anyone who underestimates the two American Teams Racing in the USA with mainly American swimmers is foolish. ”
“The meet will be won by the Team who gets their relay/skins strategies right and whose multi-eventers really stand up & deliver.”
Spot on, as indicated in this piece by Andy Ross looking at the strengths of teams.
A fair few swimmers, including Cate Campbell, Lilly King and Adam Peaty, are backing Cali Condor’s Caeleb Dressel for Season Most Valued Player, while Nathan Adrian points to Sarah Sjostrom “unassailable lead”:
Seto’s presence will surely be a big boost to Energy. In domestic competition, he fell just shy of the 400m medley World record this season, on 3:55.53, his margin over next best on the clock, Britain’s big ranger Duncan Scott, almost 6sec back.
On butterfly, Seto many join Energy teammate and London Derby Most value Player Chad le Clos in a push for a 1-2 top-points outcome over 200m, while the first and only Japanese man in League waters so far will be a danger on breaststroke and just about any other scrap the coaching team sends him into.
Gibson sums up the competitive arena of the League when he says:
“The ISL 2019 has seen new aquatic stars emerge and has delivered excitement & unpredictability.”
An exercise that takes the top six performances among those who made the Final Match points not to London Roar nor Energy as having a decisive edge. Indeed, the best you might be able to say about such a count is this:
- water under the bridge, each match an entity and moment in its own right and context
- vast scope for the order of existing pace lists to change
- the edge of end-of-season will surely add a new dimension to many of the tight tussles ahead.
Energy Standard celebrate victory on the way to qualifying for the Final Match – Photo Courtesy: Energy Standard
The ISL is a year old, its first season of this world for a little over three months. There’s a debrief ahead, one that will celebrate many achievements, consider what didn’t work and find ways of making Swim League Season II stronger.
Andrea Di Nino, the coach turned Managing Director of the ISL, told Swimming World on the eve of the first Final Match:
“From my side I totally satisfied about the first ISL season. Just 10 weeks ago, such a concept did not even exist in swimming and now, after such short time, we can see what swimmers, coaches and ISL management created. Now swimming is finally also a TV product, a new sport format able to attract not just swimming lovers but also general sport fans.”
A sport with new horizons and new venues, courtesy of a trend not new to swimming – the use of temporary pools, too, Di Nino noted:
“About Vegas, one of the most exciting thing is the location and the extraordinary and sustainable pools built here (at the Mandalay Bay]. Las Vegas will feature a great sports show thanks to the ISL.”
What to expect in Vegas:
Moments of the Year – by the Athletes:
Jeanette Ottesen on the London Roar Pride – Family:
Vegas – Fireworks – Ryan Murphy:
Chad Le Clos in vegas – The journey to Razzmatazz
