Several International Swimming League (ISL) teams have announced their first five protected athletes in the new draft process.
“Protected” athletes are the ISL Swimmers who have confirmed their commitment to remain on their current team if selected by the team’s General Manager, or if elected by the fans online, during the ISL Draft.
The first five confirmed athletes for each team were announced Tuesday.
Cali Condors: Kelsi Dahlia, Molly Hannis, Justin Ress, Beata Nelson, Coleman Stewart
DC Trident: Zach Apple, Zach Harting, Jay Litherland, Linnea Mack, Ting Quah
Energy Standard: Sarah Sjostrom, Chad le Clos, Emily Seebohm, Kliment Kolesnikov, Siobhan Haughey
Team Iron: Katinka Hosszu, Robert Glinta, Ranomi Kromowidjojo, Melanie Henique, Nicholas Santos
London Roar: Kyle Chalmers, Kira Toussaint, Emma McKeon, Sydney Pickrem, Alia Atkinson
New York Breakers: Molly Renshaw, Marco Koch, Abbie Wood, Arina Surkova, Joel Litchfield
Toronto Titans: Kylie Maase, Anton McKee, Blake Pieroni, Kelsey Wog, Shane Ryan
LA Current: Tom Shields, Beryl Gastaldello, Katie McLaughlin, Madi Wilson, Kristian, Gkolomeev
Tokyo Frog Kings: Catie DeLoof, Suzuka Hasegawa, Vladimir Morozov, Takeshi Kawamoto, Yasuhiro Koseki
Aqua Centurions: TBD
Any registered athlete who has not committed to remain on their current team will enter the ISL Draft Pool as an ISL Rookie Swimmer, while any ISL Swimmer who has confirmed their commitment to their current ISL Team, but has not been retained, will enter the Draft Pool as an Veteran Swimmer.
Teams will be able to retain up to a maximum of 15 ‘protected’ athletes from their Season 1 and Season 2 rosters, plus an additional ‘protected’ athlete elected via an interactive online fan vote. Teams will then be able to select 11 additional swimmers from the Draft Pool during the ISL Draft, to a maximum total of 27 swimmers.
The ISL Draft is scheduled to take place on 29-30 June 2021. One week prior, on 22 June, each of the 10 ISL Clubs will announce the first 5 swimmers from the 15 that they can ultimately retain.
Once the Draft has concluded, Clubs’ General Managers will finalize their respective teams’ rosters, to a maximum of 36 swimmers each, through direct negotiations with the remaining swimmers from the Draft Pool only.
You can find the full draft rules here.
