Sarah Sjostrom was named the Most Valuable Player for scoring the most points in the first season of the International Swimming League. The league concluded in Las Vegas at the Mandalay Bay Resort on Saturday as Sjostrom helped her team Energy Standard edge the London Roar by 9.5 points.
“The main thing was to take points for my team all the way,” Sjostrom said. “MVP is a big moment of course, I am very, very happy that I was able to take this final also. I was racing some of my best competitors in almost every race I have so I am not used to that type of racing that often – it was a very good experience for me to race with that much pressure so often.
“I felt like I was swimming world champs four times this season. So that is very exciting. I am very, very happy that we finally get started with this competition and to win was outstanding.”
Sjostrom also edged out Caeleb Dressel of the Cali Condors for the season MVP award as men and women were treated equally in the race for the MVP award.
“I think this is one of the best parts about the ISL – that we race against the men. It was so cool. I was racing against Chad (le Clos) for the MVP title even if we are team-mates. It was very exciting that I finally got the chance to compete against men.
“Maybe in the future they will do four rounds in the skins and I can race Flo. I actually talked about that with Konstantin and he said it was a good idea so I am looking forward to that.”
Sjostrom had to win the 50 free Skins in order to clinch the MVP title ahead of Dressel. Sjostrom finished second in the 100 free and 50 fly earlier on Saturday and on Friday, she won the 50 free and was second in the 100 butterfly.
The winning moment for Sjostrom:
Final Team Scores:
- Energy Standard – 453.5
- London Roar – 444
- Cali Condors – 415.5
- L.A. Current – 318
Final MVP Standings:
- Sarah Sjostrom, Energy, 243.5
- Caeleb Dressel, Condors, 240
- Emma McKeon, Roar, 192
- Chad Le Clos, Energy, 190.5
- Olivia Smoliga, Condors, 174.5
- Florent Manaudou, Energy, 169.5
- Lilly King, Condors, 157.5
- Minna Atherton, Roar, 157
- Beryl Gastaldello, Current, 156
- Tom Shields, Current, 153.5
Sarah Sjostrom will receive a $50,000 USD bonus for having the most points scored throughout the season, and her Energy Standard teammates will all receive $10,000 USD bonus for winning the final match.
Energy Standard Men’s Roster
- Simonas Bilis, LTU
- Anton Chupkov, RUS
- Ivan Girev, RUS
- Kliment Kolesnikov, RUS
- Chad le Clos, RSA
- Max Litchfield, GBR
- Florent Manaudou, FRA
- Ben Proud, GBR
- Mykhailo Romanchuk, UKR
- Evgeny Rylov, RUS
- Daiya Seto, JPN
- Sergii Shevtsov, UKR
- Ilya Shymanovich, BLR
- Maxim Stupin, RUS
- Kregor Zirk, EST
Energy Standard Women’s Roster
- Charlotte Bonnet, FRA
- Imogen Clark, GBR
- Georgia Davies, GBR
- Viktoria Gunes, TUR
- Mary-Sophie Harvey, CAN
- Femke Heemskerk, NED
- Fantine Lesaffre, FRA
- Penny Oleksiak, CAN
- Kayla Sanchez, CAN
- Emily Seebohm, AUS
- Anastasiya Shkurdai, BLR
- Sarah Sjostrom, SWE
- Kierra Smith, CAN
- Rebecca Smith, CAN
- Jocelyn Ulyett, GBR
