Swimming World caught up with Signe Bro while she was on her training camp in Fort Lauderdale with members of the Danish National team to talk about the first season of the ISL and what it was like being an international swimmer on a primarily-American team.
The International Swimming League kicked off in the fall of 2019 to positive reviews from international swimmers and swimming fans who love the sport. There are still some things to be changed, as there are with any new ideas and concepts, but generally the ISL was a hit among hard core fans of the sport and the swimmers that benefitted greatly from competing.
Energy Standard won the first championship of the new league in December 2019 with an MVP season from Swede Sarah Sjostrom as well as clutch performances from Daiya Seto of Japan and Florent Manaudou of France. The ISL was truly an international affair with 35 different countries represented among the eight teams and every single team was littered with swimmers from different nations. International rivals Kylie Masse and Olivia Smoliga were racing under the same cap. Alia Atkinson was swimming on relays with Katinka Hosszu, and Andreas Vazaios was getting star struck at the opportunity of swimming on the same team as Natalie Coughlin.
It was a friendly but also competitive environment for all involved, and everyone was able to meet new people and make new friends, including Denmark’s Signe Bro, who walked on to the Cali Condors team in October not really knowing anyone beforehand.
The Condors were a primarily-American based team, with the majority of the team being based in the United States with the likes of Smoliga, Caeleb Dressel, Townley Haas and Kelsi Dahlia. Despite not knowing anyone, Bro said she was welcomed with open arms.
“It’s nice when almost everyone other than me knew each other so that made it a very safe and fun environment. So I just had to blend in and have fun. The people were very welcoming and it was very easy to get in and get to know people,” Signe Bro said.
“The first couple of meets was just for me to get comfortable and have fun and embrace the racing and embrace the team.”
Signe Bro (middle) fist bumping teammate Natalie Hinds in Indianapolis at the first ISL meet. Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick
Bro had the chance to swim the very first meet in Indianapolis which was her first time competing in the United States.
“It’s very cool that we had Lilly King on our team and Cody Miller was there as well, so in Indianapolis it was packed – they love those people.”
The crowds just added to the excitement of the new league.
“It was a nice atmosphere in Indianapolis but then coming to Naples, I know a lot more of who is very popular in Europe and it was a fun to see some of the faces that I recognize in the stands. I think swimming is big (in the United States) as well so people are very engaged and you feel that when you swim.”
Signe Bro swam in all of the ISL meets this season except for the American Derby in DC because of a broken hand she sustained in a strength room workout right before, which has healed since.
There were a fair amount of meets on the ISL schedule this fall with each team doing two meets in two weeks to start and then two in a span of two months towards the end of championship season. Next year, the league will expand from 7 to 27 total meets for 10 teams (with an additional two from the inaugural season). It will be a lot of racing but there isn’t any word on when exactly the second season will start or where any of the competitions are.
Some swimming purists worry it could be too much racing and not enough training, but Bro thinks it will be good for the future of the league.
“I think what is going to be nice moving forward is that there are more competitions so that it becomes a bigger thing and for people to really follow a team,” Bro said. “Our dream is that you would root for the Lakers as you would root for the Cali Condors. I think that’s a really exciting thing. I just hope that people one day will be like ‘that’s really my team!’ And really be rooting for a team. So I think that is going to be really nice for the swimmers that there’s a lot more competitions next season.”
Was having so many meets in a relaxed environment bad in the middle of Olympic preparation, though? Some of the biggest names took off meets to focus on training and some did not participate at all because the league was in short course meters rather than the preferred Olympic distance of long course.
We will have to wait and see until the Olympic Games to really see if the league had a negative impact on those competing, but Bro didn’t view the ISL as a distraction from training for the Games, because “you can take your training anywhere there is a pool.”
Signe Bro before warm-up at the 2016 World Short Course Championships. Photo Courtesy: Patrick B. Kraemer
“I did all of my training and I did all of my competitions. I even swam the European Short Course Championships and I did my Nationals so I don’t think it distracted me.”
If anything, it helped connect her to friends around the world.
“Now, we are going from Florida to the Knoxville Pro Series and I just saw that there are going to be so many people that I know now and that is a really nice feeling and it’s what the sport is about, right? Having fun and also getting to know people and racing and having fun in the call room. That was a really nice setup for that kind of thing.”
Bro will be swimming this weekend in Knoxville alongside Condors teammates Mallory Comerford, Kelsi Dahlia, Nic Fink, Molly Hannis, Melanie Margalis, among others, who placed third in the Las Vegas final in December.
The Condors were a very spirited team, flashing bird wings behind the blocks whenever they got the chance, and being around that supporting environment helped Bro perform.
Kelsi Dahlia and Mallory Comerford of the Cali Condors. Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick
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Now that the calendar has turned to 2020, all the focus in the swimming world is on the Olympic Games in Tokyo. Bro, 20, has a chance to qualify for her first Games at the end of March at the Danish Open in Copenhagen, where her best chances are in the 100 and 200 free. In 2019, Bro was 28th in the world in the 100 free (54.01) and 70th in the 200 (1:58.64). At the World Championships in Gwangju she was 33rd in the 100 free at 55.65, well off her best time.
“We had a change in coach before Worlds so that was a bit tough,” she said. “I think it was about bouncing back to now we have this very important season. Especially the next couple of months, it is important to get a good block of training. I did some really good swimming in the first half year of the season and I just had fun at the ISL.”
The Danes have not yet qualified a relay for the Olympics, so they will likely put together a strong team to try and qualify the free relays at either the Swedish Open in April or the European Championships in May. If Bro is to make the Tokyo team in either the 100 or 200 free or a relay, it would be her first trip to the Games.
“That’s just the little girl’s dream that I came with,” Bro said about the chance of qualifying for Tokyo. “That would be making it for me. To be able to do that now, I’m just 20-years-old, it would mean a lot to me and it would mean that I have so much will-power and I just really really want it. And for 2024, I think it would be fun to go as well, that is of course in a long time but it’s my biggest dream and it’s what I’ve been swimming for the last four years to be able to make my race as perfect as to be to go.”
“I’ve done the qualification time a couple of times but I have to do it in March. It doesn’t matter that I did it two years ago, it has to be at Trials.”
Signe (left) with sister Sarah at the 2016 World Short Course Championships. Photo Courtesy: Patrick B. Kraemer
Bro’s older sister Sarah represented Denmark at the last Olympics in Rio as a member of the 4×100 free relay team that finished 12th. In 2017, the Bro sisters were able to swim on the same relay at the World Championships in Budapest, a dream come true for the family.
“It was a very very special moment for the two of us. Our parents were there and that was a really full-circle moment for me – to be able to do this means a lot to me but to do it with a part of my family, that was a very big moment for us.”
Sarah is not swimming as much anymore, but the Olympic dream for Signe Bro is very much alive still.
After the Olympics is the second season of the ISL, which Bro isn’t sure if she will take part of because she wants to take a much-needed break after the Games. But she said she still wanted to take part because it brought her new friends from all over the world and it will continue to make swimming new and exciting for her.