Ryan Murphy set a new US and ISL 50 backstroke record as London Roar ended day one of playoff match five at the head of the standings.
Murphy touched the wall in 23.53 to take 0.01 off his own record of 23.54 set in November 2020 in Budapest and also won the 200 back.
Ilya Shymanovich has been in blistering form of late and he scored 30pts in the 50 breaststroke when he jackpotted everyone but his teammate Felipe Lima.
He also split 55.00 on the breaststroke leg as Energy won the men’s medley relay in the final event of the day and claimed victory over 200br.
London Roar won eight events, with Annie Lazor claiming their first victory in the 200br, to finish day one with a 16-point lead over Energy Standard.
Roar won the women’s 4×100 medley relay with Energy taking the men’s and both teams opting for backstroke in the skins.
STANDINGS
280 London Roar
264 Energy Standard
221.5 LA Current
141.5 DC Trident
Women’s 100 Fly
Sarah Sjostrom, who heads the season MVP standings, was under world-record pace at halfway and enjoyed a clear win to pick up 12 points for Energy.
Anna Ntounounaki was second for LA Current with Linnea Mack next for DC.
Marie Wattel and Alia Atkinson took fourth and sixth respectively for Roar.
Men’s 100 Fly
Tom Shields and Chad Le Clos – making his first playoff appearance – lined up.
Shields led at halfway and held a body-length lead at 150 to take 10pts with Current team-mate Tomoe Hvas in third.
Le Clos was sandwiched between the LA duo in second.
Women’s 200 Backstroke
Kira Toussaint, who claimed the backstroke clean sweep at the recent European Short-Course Championships, led at halfway.
The Roar swimmer was still ahead at 175 and appeared on course for victory only for Anastasia Shkurdai to come past in the last 10 metres and take victory for Energy.
Toussaint was second with Ingrid Wilm of Current third and Minna Atherton fourth for Roar.
Men’s 200 Backstroke
The Tokyo silver and bronze medallists Ryan Murphy and Luke Greenbank were among a strong field that also featured Kliment Kolesnikov.
Murphy led from the off for a jackpot win of 19pts ahead of Roar duo Christian Diener and Greenbank.
Women’s 200 Breaststroke
Evgeniia Chikunova, who set a WJR of 2:16.88 earlier this month at European short-course in Kazan, lined up alongside Annie Lazor.
Lazor was 0.67 ahead of Maria Temnikova at halfway with Chikunova moving into third at 150.
The American touched first to get Roar’s maiden win of the match with Temnikova taking second for DC and Chikunova third.
Men’s 200 Breaststroke
Ilya Shymanovich lowered his 100 world record to 55.32 last week and the Belarus swimmer has been in fearsome form of late, claiming his first international title in Kazan earlier this month after a run of silvers.
Tommy Cope led at halfway ahead of Shymanovich and it was not until the final turn that the Energy swimmer moved on to the DC swimmer’s shoulder.
He powered off the wall and drew ahead to take the win with Cope second and Christopher Rothbauer third for LA Current.
Women’s 4×100 Free Relay
A split of 50.70 by Siobhan Haughey on the second leg devastated the field and guided Energy to a jackpot win.
DC Trident and LA Current were second and third with the Roar squads fourth and fifth.
STANDINGS
93 Energy Standard
78 LA Current
73 London Roar
45 DC Trident
Men’s 50 Free
Kyle Chalmers and Ben Proud were in adjoining lanes, the latter the top scorer in this event with four victories and 27pts.
The pair were stroke for stroke with Chalmers claiming the win by 0.04 from Proud and Kristian Gkolomeev of LA Current.
Dylan Carter was fourth for Roar as they moved into second.
Women’s 50 Free
Sjostrom is top scorer in the 50 free and she was ahead at the wall, her power off the wall guiding her to a 19pt jackpot win for Energy.
Abbey Weitzeil (Current) and Anna Hopkin (DC) were next home with the top three all going 23secs.
There were no points for Roar with Kim Busch and Freya Anderson jackpotted in sixth and eighth.
Men’s 200IM
Duncan Scott went ahead on the backstroke with Roar teammate Vini Lanza in second.
The Briton extended his lead on the breaststroke with Lanza second for a Roar one-two, Scott getting a 19pt jackpot win as the team got 26pts.
Javier Acevedo and Tomoe Hvas were third and fourth for LA while Energy and DC failed to score as Roar moved to within seven points of the lead.
Women’s 200IM
Sydney Pickrem was just 0.01 behind Mary-Sophie Harvey after backstroke and moved into a body-length lead going into the freestyle.
She claimed her seventh for a jackpot 12pt win with Katie Shanahan‘s fourth place guiding London Roar into the lead by four points.
Men’s 50 Breaststroke
It was all about Shymanovich who destroyed the field in 25.47 to jackpot all but teammate Felipe Lima.
It earned him 30pts and Energy 37 overall as they retook the lead.
Women’s 50 Breaststroke
Alia Atkinson responded for Roar, claiming a 19pt jackpot ahead of LA pair Anastasia Gorbenko and Imogen Clark.
Men’s 4×100 Freestyle Relay
Duncan Scott went 46.00 as he overhauled a deficit of 0.87 to overhaul LA Current with world-record holder Kyle Chalmers anchoring Roar home in 45.12.
A jackpot win secured Roar 38pts as they moved back to the top of the standings.
STANDINGS
188 London Roar
179 Energy Standard
136.5 LA Current
76.5 DC Trident
Women’s 50 Backstroke
Kira Toussaint claimed her ninth victory in this event with Linnea Mack (DC) and Ingrid Wilm (LA) as Roar moved into a 17-point lead.
Men’s 50 Backstroke
A quality field featured Ryan Murphy, Kliment Kolesnikov, Guilherme Guido and Christian Diener.
But it was Murphy who propelled himself ahead immediately with a superb start as he touched first in 22.53, taking 0.01 off his American and ISL record to claim 15pts for Current.
Murphy set the previous record of 22.54 in November 2020 in Budapest.
Mark Nikolaev was second for DC with Kolesnikov picking up points for Energy with Guido and Diener fourth and fifth.
Women’s 400 Free
Siobhan Haughey was in clear water from early on, showing the field a clean pair of heels, to come home in 3:58.44 and claim 17pts for Energy.
Joanna Evans (DC) and Valentine Dumont (LA) were next home with Roar still 10 points ahead going into the final individual race of day one.
Men’s 400 Free
Fernando Scheffer went out like a rocket to get the checkpoint points and still led until the final turn when Tom Dean moved on to his shoulder.
The Olympic 200 champion went to his feet and moved past Scheffer for a Roar victory.
Martin Malyutin made it a Current two-three and 25 points as Roar made it a 14-point lead going into the medley relays.
Women’s 4×100 Medley Relay
Kira Toussaint handed over to Alia Atkinson in second with the Jamaican swimmer guiding Roar to a clear lead with the second London squad in third.
They had a 0.99 lead over Energy going into the free after Marie Wattel’s fly leg with Emma McKeon‘s 51.18 anchoring them to victory, a jackpot 24pt win and the choice of stroke in the skins.
Energy was second with Current third.
Men’s 4×100 Medley Relay
Shymanovich was back in the water and he guided Energy from fourth to first after a 25.2 first 50.
The Belarus swimmer went 55 flat to give the team a clear lead and they claimed a jackpot 24pt win.