Sport | Swimming |
---|---|
Founded | 2019 |
Ceased | 2021 |
CEO | Konstantin Koudriaev |
President | Konstantin Grigorishin |
No. of teams | 10 |
Countries | Worldwide |
Official website | https://isl.global/ |
The International Swimming League (ISL) was an annual professional swimming league, established in 2019. It features a team-based competition format with fast-paced race sessions. In 2019, the regular season started in October and the Final Match was held in December.
Athletes with a history of breaking anti-doping rules are banned from ISL. [1]
In March 2022, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the ISL abruptly cancelled its fourth season and all competition in 2022. [2]
At the start of the 2018 season, the only major annual swimming tournament sanctioned by FINA was FINA Swimming World Cup. International Swimming League, a team-based professional swimming series, was founded in 2017 by Russian-Ukrainian billionaire Konstantin Grigorishin. [3] ISL planned to hold an inaugural event in Turin, Italy, in December, 2018. [4] In June, 2018, FINA sent a letter to all 209 federations, urging them not to cooperate with ISL. [5]
After clarifying the interpretation of a rule included in section 4.5 of FINA general rules, [6] FINA stated that the Energy for Swim meet was now classified as an international event for that season, given that "a competition which is conceptually designed to have a majority of foreign participants is not a national competition", and thus it needed to be approved within the ordinary six-month window. [7]
Since the approval window was already expired, the athletes participating in that meet would have been disqualified from one to two years by FINA and any world records set during the event would not have been recognized.
The negotiations between the parties officially broke down on 15 November 2018 after athletes decided that it would not be worth swimming at FINA sectioned meets if FINA was barring athletes from competing in the ISL. Eventually leading to Energy for Swim meet cancellation. [8]
Despite negotiations failure between FINA, ISL and Energy Standard Group - that would have organized Energy for Swim meet along with FIN - several athletes sustained the new idea of a team-based swimming competition (among which Katinka Hosszú and Adam Peaty). FINA announced in December 2018 the creation of a brand new league, called FINA Champions Swim Series. [9] The first ISL team to be officially announced was German side ONEFlow Aquatics (which would not have taken part to the inaugural season, eventually) in January 2019, after which ISL announced also the remaining three European teams and the four American teams in the following months. [10]
Meanwhile, ISL also presented a newly formed representation company - ISL USA - which would have staged the semifinals and Final Match, at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, and assisted the new US clubs in their operations (including scouting talent, signing athletes and running their own swimming meets). [11] A crucial step towards the creation of ISL was made when FINA announced that athletes taking part in Non-FINA sanctioned events would not have been banned and that similar competitions would be allowed, also confirming that all the world records set in the first two stages would not have been considered (because of clashing with World Cup events). [12] [13]
In June 2019, ISL released the schedule of the league inaugural season, which officially started on the first week of the following October. [14]
From the beginning of the International Swimming League, the administrators established a policy of not allowing athletes with anti-doping rules violations or ethics violations to compete. [15] For athlete bans due to anti-doping rules violations, the ISL relies on test results from the World Anti-Doping Agency to implement the bans. [16] In March 2022, the ISL approved the ban of all Russian swimmers and staff from the Energy Standard swim club as a way of punishing Russians in response to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and demonstrating its support for Ukraine. [17]
In October 2021, following the repeated non-payment of multiple contractors, staff, and athletes, a number of athletes proposed boycotting the 2021 ISL playoffs. [18] [19] Leading up to the 2021 playoffs, the League's breaking of their contractual obligation to pay their workers and performers dated back at least to the 2020 ISL season, where multiple athletes were not paid for the entire season. [20] In addition to non-payment of athletes and other workers, the ISL had already established a history of non-payment with competition venues, suppliers, and vendors across various locations, including the United Kingdom, Switzerland, and Hungary, that dated back to season one in 2019. [20] [21]
With the vast majority of the ISL's $20 million annual funding coming from Ukrainian billionaire and businessman Konstantin Grigorishin, the 2022 Russian Invasion of Ukraine has caused the league to struggle even further in its finances. On 28 February, just days after the Russian invasion began, the ISL failed to pay its athletes due to being unable to remove funds from within Ukraine. On 27 March 2022, the ISL released a statement with the decision to cancel its 4th season of 2022, slated to start in July with a planned 24 competitions and $13 million prize pool for athletes. The statement makes no mention of funding, though explicitly states support for the Ukrainian effort. [2] However, the return is deemed unlikely.
The season is split into a regular championship and a final. In the regular championship clubs earn points from participating in matches according to the following principles: 4 points for 1st place in the match, 3 for 2nd, 2 for 3rd and 1 for 4th. After all of the championship matches, the 4 clubs with the highest number of points advance to the final, where the winner of the league (the ISL Champions) are determined. Each club can have a maximum roster of 32 athletes. At each match 28 of these are permitted to compete - 12 men and 12 women can swim individual races, while 2 men and 2 women can be used as "relay only" athletes. [22]
Four clubs take part in a match, an ISL match lasts two days. During the first season, an ISL match consisted of 37(39 in the 2020 season) races: 30(32) individual, 5 team relays and 2 skin races. Each race consists of 2 representatives from each of the clubs. Points are distributed after the race in the following manner: 9 points for 1st, 7 for 2nd, ... 1 for 8th. Points are not awarded to athletes (teams) that fail to finish a race. In addition, points are doubled in relays and are awarded after each of the 3 skin race heats.
The points of the clubs’ representatives are then added together and go towards the total points result of their respective clubs.
A victory in a race does not guarantee maximum club points. As an example, club representatives that finish 1st and 7th in a race will earn less points for their respective clubs than those who finish 2nd and 4th: they will score 11 and 12 total points, respectively.
A match is won by the club that has scored the most points in all of the 37 races. Similarly, the rest of the clubs are distributed through 2nd to 4th place, respective of the points they score during the entire match. Theoretically, a match could be won by a team that has not won a single race.
In the eventuality two or more clubs end up with the same number of points after the match, an extra mixed medley 4x50m relay shall take place, the outcome of which will mirror the final results of the match. [23]
The 2019 season debuted with eight clubs in total, four from the United States, and four from Europe. In 2020 clubs from Canada and Japan were added to the league, increasing the total number of clubs to 10. [24]
Team | City | Joined | 2020 GMs [25] | 2020 Head Coaches |
---|---|---|---|---|
Americas Conference | ||||
DC Trident | Washington, D.C. | 2019 | Kaitlin Sandeno | Cyndi Gallagher |
LA Current | Los Angeles | 2019 | Lenny Krayzelburg | David Marsh |
New York Breakers | New York City | 2019 | Tina Andrew | Martin Truijens |
Cali Condors | San Francisco | 2019 | Jason Lezak | Jonty Skinner |
Toronto Titans | Toronto | 2020 | Robert Kent | Byron MacDonald |
Eurasian Conference | ||||
Energy Standard | Paris | 2019 | Jean-Francois Salessy | James Gibson |
London Roar | London | 2019 | Rob Woodhouse | Mel Marshall |
Team Iron | Budapest | 2019 | Dorina Szekeres | Jozsef Nagy |
Aqua Centurions | Rome | 2019 | Alessandra Guerra | Matteo Giunta |
Tokyo Frog Kings | Tokyo | 2020 | Kosuke Kitajima | Dave Salo |
ISL 2021 Season became the first season in which ISL used a draft to determine rosters.
The ISL Draft is designed to achieve three major objectives: [26]
- To allow each of the ISL Teams’ General Managers (GMs) to strategically position their team for maximum success in the following season;
- To allow ISL’s less successful teams priority in selecting new team members, thereby establishing a more balanced starting position for the new season;
- To give the League’s new swimmers the possibility to change clubs after their first year in the ISL.
In 2021, this process followed the steps below: [27]
Pick # | ROUND 1 | ROUND 2 | ROUND 3 | ROUND 4 | ROUND 5-10 | ROUND 11 | ROUND 12 | ROUND 13 | ROUND 14 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | #10 Team | #10 Team | #10 Team | #10 Team | #10 Team | #8 Team | #6 Team | #4 Team | #2 Team |
2 | #9 Team | #9 Team | #9 Team | #9 Team | #9 Team | #7 Team | #5 Team | #3 Team | #1 Team |
3 | #8 Team | #8 Team | #8 Team | #8 Team | #6 Team | #4 Team | #2 Team | ||
4 | #7 Team | #7 Team | #7 Team | #7 Team | #5 Team | #3 Team | #1 Team | ||
5 | #6 Team | #6 Team | #6 Team | #4 Team | #2 Team | ||||
6 | #5 Team | #5 Team | #5 Team | #3 Team | #1 Team | ||||
7 | #4 Team | #4 Team | #2 Team | ||||||
8 | #3 Team | #3 Team | #1 Team | ||||||
9 | #2 Team | ||||||||
10 | #1 Team |
The final result of the 2021 ISL Draft can be found here and here .
All the matches are composed of four clubs. and take place on two days, with two two-hour long sessions including two short breaks in each. Each club is composed of a minimum of 24 and a maximum of 28 athletes, 12 Men and 12 Women are permitted to swim individual events while an additional 2 male & 2 female athletes may be included in a Team roster as Relay only swimmers. In each event, all the clubs competing must line up two athletes (and also two teams in the relays).
A standard ISL match takes place during two days. Each day consists of three 30-35 minute sessions, divided by two 10 minute breaks. Each day two adjacent lanes are randomly assigned to each club where the swimmers shall race in the lanes until the end of each competition day. On Day 1 if a club has been assigned outside lanes (7&8 or 1&2), the next day the club shall be guaranteed central lanes (3&4 or 5&6) and vice versa.
Team line-ups are submitted prior to each competition session. These line-ups can be changed and adjusted during the scheduled, the teams will be allowed to submit changes twice during the day at certain moments when the organization will allow this (before each break).
A match consists of 39 races, including 32 individual events, 5 Relays and 2 Skin races, which are open only for the 12 swimmers that have participated in individual events. In addition, if two or more clubs tie in points at the end of the match, an additional mixed medley 4x50 relay shall take place between these clubs’ representatives. All athletes are allowed to participate in this relay. The winner of this relay shall stand higher in the final match rankings than the other club that swam in the relay. [28]
Points are awarded to the teams at the end of each match as follows.
Place | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th |
---|---|---|---|---|
Points | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
In 2019, the two American and European teams with the highest number of points after the regular championship, qualify for the Final. If two or more clubs are tied after the regular championship, additional criteria are used to determine the winner.
The scoring for each individual event is as follows (relays races score double the points): [28]
Place | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | DNF | DSQ | DNS |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Points | 9 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | -2 | -4 |
A particular points scoring system has been introduced for relay races, which score double points than individual events. In order to force athletes to put their best forward every time they step on the blocks and to avoid a lack of engagement, minimum time standards have been established.
|
Source: [29]
If an athlete is ahead of some athletes in their race by a margin bigger than the jackpot time, the points of these athletes are awarded to the club of the winner of the race. Theoretically, the winner of the race that out touches all of his opponents by more than the jackpot time (full jackpot) can earn 37 points for his club in an individual race (individual full jackpot), 74 points in a relay (relay full jackpot) and 85 points in a skin race, if he manages to win all three stages by more than the jackpot time (triple full jackpot). For example, if the winner for men's 100m freestyle swims 45.00, while the second place swims 47.00, the winner of the race wins full jackpot, since the difference between the leader of the race and the rest of the field was more than the jackpot time margin. Thus, the winner of 100m freestyle would earn 37 points for his team, while the rest of the athletes in the race would earn 0 points. In the case of a full jackpot, all three other teams receive 0 points for the race. In case an athlete fails to show up for a race or gets disqualified, the winner of the race will be awarded with his/her points and that swimmer will receive a penalty according to the "penalties" table. The jackpot times are seen in the table below:
|
If a relay or swimmer is slower than the times indicated in the table below, it gets a penalty of points. A relay slower than the time standard gets 2 points deducted whereas an individual athlete slower than the respective time indicated gets instead 1 point of penalty.
On the table all of the minimum time standards (SCM) for the events are compared to the world records.
|
If an athlete (or a relay team) is disqualified or does not finish the race, points are not awarded for his club, while two points (four for relay teams) are subtracted from the club's overall performance. If an athlete (or a relay team) did not appear for a race, points are not awarded for his club, while four points (eight for relay teams) are subtracted from the club's overall performance. In both cases, the disqualified athlete and the athlete that did not show up, it is considered that those athletes finished the race last, while the points those swimmers received for getting last in a race are awarded to the winner of that race.
Place | DNS | DNF | DSQ |
---|---|---|---|
Points in an individual race | -4 | -2 | |
Points in a relay race | -8 | -4 |
A Most Valuable Player (MVP) is determined after each match and at the end of the entire ISL season.
The criteria for an MVP is the number of points the swimmer has accumulated towards the overall team score for
After each match, only one MVP is selected out of all participating swimmers in that specific match (Match MVP).
At the conclusion of the season one MVP is chosen from all the swimmers who took part in that particular season of ISL (Season MVP). [28]
A skin race is a series of back-to-back-to-back 50 meters (SCM) races of various strokes (Backstroke, Breaststroke, Butterfly or Freestyle) operating on a knockout basis: In the first round four swimmers are eliminated (out of 8), second round two swimmers are eliminated leaving the 3rd and last round consisting of only two swimmers racing each other in a head-to-head final race. Skin races’ rounds are held every 3 minutes. The athletes can warm down in the pool or can get a short massage from their team's physiotherapist behind the blocks between each round. The athletes knocked out of the race must return to their team's area. In Round 3, if a swimmer is disqualified (DSQ), he/she still receives the points he/she accumulated in rounds 1 and 2; and, if both swimmers are DSQ, they will then race again, in order to determine the winner of the round - the race will again be conducted on 3’.
The lanes, that the qualified athletes will use in the following round, are to be determined according to their team's lane assignment for the day. ISL skin races score as follows: [28]
Place | DNS | DNF | DSQ | 8th | 7th | 6th | 5th | 4th | 3rd | 2nd | 1st | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Round 1 | Points | -4 | -2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 9 | |
Round 2 | Points | -4 | -2 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 9 | |||||
Round 3 | Points | -4 | -2 | 7 | 14 |
The 2019 season budget was US$20m, with over US$6m of this being appearance and prize money for the athletes. [30]
Season | Rds | Champion | Second | Third | Fourth |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2019 | 7 | Energy Standard | London Roar | Cali Condors | LA Current |
2020 | 9 | Cali Condors | Energy Standard | London Roar | LA Current |
2021 | 9 | Energy Standard | Cali Condors | London Roar | LA Current |
All results can be found at ISL official website.
Event | Swimmer | Club | Time | City | Date | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
50m Freestyle | Ranomi Kromowidjojo | Team Iron | 23.29 | Budapest | 26–27 October 2019 (Match 3) | |
100m Freestyle | Siobhán Haughey | Energy Standard | 50.79 | Eindhoven | 3–4 December 2021 (Final) | [31] |
200m Freestyle | Siobhán Haughey | Energy Standard | 1:51.11 | Budapest | 21–22 November 2020 (Final) | |
400m Freestyle | Katie Ledecky | DC Trident | 3:54.06 | Indianapolis | 5–6 October 2019 (Match 1) | |
50m Backstroke | Kira Toussaint | London Roar | 25.60 | Budapest | 14–15 November 2020 (Semifinal 1) | |
100m Backstroke | Minna Atherton | London Roar | 54.89 | Budapest | 26–27 October 2019 (Match 4) | |
200m Backstroke | Minna Atherton | London Roar | 1:59.25 | London | 23–24 November 2019 (Semifinal 2) | |
50m Breaststroke | Lilly King | Cali Condors | 28.77 | Budapest | 21–22 November 2020 (Final) | |
100m Breaststroke | Lilly King | Cali Condors | 1:02.50 | Budapest | 21–22 November 2020 (Final) | |
200m Breaststroke | Lilly King | Cali Condors | 2:15.56 | Budapest | 21–22 November 2020 (Final) | |
50m Butterfly | Ranomi Kromowidjojo | Team Iron | 24.59 | Budapest | 5–6 November 2020 (Match 7) | |
100m Butterfly | Kelsi Dahlia | Cali Condors | 55.22 | Naples | 4–5 September 2021 (Match 4) | |
200m Butterfly | Suzuka Hasegawa | Tokyo Frog Kings | 2:03.12 | Budapest | 24–25 October 2020 (Match 3) | |
100m Individual Medley | Béryl Gastaldello | LA Current | 57.30 | Budapest | 21–22 November 2020 (Final) | |
200m Individual Medley | Yui Ohashi | Tokyo Frog Kings | 2:03.93 | Budapest | 14–15 November 2020 (Semifinal 1) | |
400m Individual Medley | Yui Ohashi | Tokyo Frog Kings | 4:23.25 | Budapest | 14–15 November 2020 (Semifinal 1) | |
Relay 4 × 100 m Freestyle | Siobhán Haughey Pernille Blume Femke Heemskerk Sarah Sjöström | Energy Standard | 3:25.37 | Budapest | 21–22 November 2020 (Final) | |
Relay 4 × 100 m Medley | Olivia Smoliga Lilly King Kelsi Dahlia Erika Brown | Cali Condors | 3:45.58 | Budapest | 21–22 November 2020 (Final) |
Event | Swimmer | Club | Time | City | Date |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
50m Freestyle | Caeleb Dressel | Cali Condors | 20.16 | Budapest | 21–22 November 2020 (Final) |
100m Freestyle | Caeleb Dressel | Cali Condors | 45.08 | Budapest | 21–22 November 2020 (Final) |
200m Freestyle | Duncan Scott | London Roar | 1:40.25 | Budapest | 21–22 November 2020 (Final) |
400m Freestyle | Danas Rapsys | Energy Standard | 3:35.49 | Budapest | 1–2 November 2020 (Match 6) |
50m Backstroke | Ryan Murphy | LA Current | 22.54 | Budapest | 21–22 November 2020 (Final) |
100m Backstroke | Coleman Stewart | Cali Condors | 48.33 | Naples | 28–29 August 2021 (Match 2) |
200m Backstroke | Evgeny Rylov | Energy Standard | 1:46.37 | Budapest | 21–22 November 2020 (Final) |
50m Breaststroke | Emre Sakçi | Team Iron | 25.29 | Budapest | 5–6 November 2020 (Match 7) |
100m Breaststroke | Ilya Shymanovich | Energy Standard | 55.28 | Eindhoven | 25–26 November 2021 (Semifinal 5) |
200m Breaststroke | Marco Koch | New York Breakers | 2:00.58 | Budapest | 1–2 November 2020 (Match 6) |
50m Butterfly | Nicholas Santos | Team Iron | 21.78 | Budapest | 9–10 November 2020 (Match 9) |
100m Butterfly | Caeleb Dressel | Cali Condors | 47.78 | Budapest | 21–22 November 2020 (Final) |
200m Butterfly | Chad le Clos | Energy Standard | 1:48.57 | Budapest | 21–22 November 2020 (Final) |
100m Individual Medley | Caeleb Dressel | Cali Condors | 49.28 | Budapest | 21–22 November 2020 (Final) |
200m Individual Medley | Daiya Seto | Energy Standard | 1:50.76 | Las Vegas | 20–21 December 2019 (Final) |
400m Individual Medley | Daiya Seto | Energy Standard | 3:54.81 | Las Vegas | 20–21 December 2019 (Final) |
Relay 4 × 100 m Freestyle | Evgeny Rylov Kliment Kolesnikov Chad le Clos Florent Manaudou | Energy Standard | 3:02.78 | Budapest | 21–22 November 2020 (Final) |
Relay 4 × 100 m Medley | Kliment Kolesnikov Ilya Shymanovich Chad le Clos Florent Manaudou | Energy Standard | 3:18.28 | Budapest | 21–22 November 2020 (Final) |
Event | Swimmer | Club | Time | City | Date |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
4 × 100 m Freestyle | Evgeny Rylov Florent Manaudou Sarah Sjöström Siobhán Haughey | Energy Standard | 3:14.21 | Budapest | 21–22 November 2020 (Final) |
4 × 100 m Medley | Ingrid Wilm Christopher Rothbauer Tom Shields Abbey Weitzeil | LA Current | 3:33.31 | Naples | 4–5 September 2021 (Match 4) |
Sarah Fredrika Sjöström is a Swedish competitive swimmer specialising in the sprint freestyle and butterfly events.
Alia Shanee Atkinson, СD is a Jamaican five-time Olympian and a former competitive swimmer whose international competition career spanned 19 years, 2003 to 2021 inclusive, at the senior level. At short course World Swimming Championships, she is a ten-time medalist in individual events, including four gold medals, four silver medals, and two bronze medals. She won a total of 124 medals, of which 74 were gold medals, at Swimming World Cup circuits over the course of her career. She won 14 total medals in individual events, 11 gold, 1 silver, and 2 bronze, from her first three Central American and Caribbean Games, in 2006, 2010, and 2018.
Katinka Hosszú is a Hungarian competitive swimmer specialized in individual medley events. She is a three-time Olympic champion and a nine-time long-course world champion. She is the owner of a Budapest-based swim school and swim club called Iron Swim Budapest, and a co-owner and captain of Team Iron, founding member of the International Swimming League.
Swimming is an individual or team racing sport that requires the use of one's entire body to move through water. The sport takes place in pools or open water. Competitive swimming is one of the most popular Olympic sports, with varied distance events in butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, freestyle, and individual medley. In addition to these individual events, four swimmers can take part in either a freestyle or medley relay. A medley relay consists of four swimmers who will each swim a different stroke, ordered as backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly and freestyle.
Thomas Allen Shields is an American competitive swimmer. He is a two-time Olympian and the current American record-holder in the short course 50-meter butterfly and 200-meter butterfly. At the 2016 Summer Olympics, he won a gold medal in the 4×100-meter medley relay, swimming the butterfly leg of the relay in the prelims. Later the same year, he became the first American to swim faster than 44 seconds in the 100-yard butterfly, setting a new American record of 43.84 seconds.
Ryan Fitzgerald MurphyOLY is an American competitive swimmer specializing in backstroke. He is a five-time Olympic gold medalist and the former world-record holder in the men's 100-meter backstroke.
Marco Koch is a German competitive swimmer who specializes in breaststroke events. He is a former world record holder in the 200 meter breaststroke.
Nicolas Fink is an American competitive swimmer. He is a five-time world champion in breaststroke events and a 2024 Olympic Silver Medalist in the 100 meter breaststroke. He is a world record holder in the short course 4×100 meter medley relay and 4×50 meter mixed medley relay. He is the Americas record holder in the short course 50 meter breaststroke, 100 meter breaststroke, and 200 meter breaststroke as well as the American record holder in the long course 50 meter breaststroke. In the 50 meter breaststroke, he won the World Short Course titles in 2021 and 2022 and World Long Course title in 2022. In the 100 meter breaststroke, he is the 2022 World Short Course gold medalist. In the 200 meter breaststroke, he is the 2021 World Short Course gold medalist.
Hali Flickinger is a retired American swimmer who specializes in freestyle, butterfly, and individual medley events. She represents the Cali Condors of the International Swimming League.
Caeleb Remel Dressel is an American competitive swimmer who specializes in freestyle, butterfly, and individual medley events. He swims representing the Cali Condors as part of the International Swimming League. He won a record seven gold medals at the 2017 World Aquatics Championships in Budapest, nine medals, six of which were gold, at the 2018 World Swimming Championships in Hangzhou, and eight medals, including six gold, at the 2019 World Aquatics Championships in Gwangju. Dressel is a nine-time Olympic gold medalist and holds world records in the 100 meter butterfly, 50 meter freestyle, and 100 meter individual medley.
Lillia Camille King is an American swimmer who specializes in breaststroke. At the 2016 Summer Olympics, she won the gold medal in the 100-meter breaststroke competition and also won a gold medal in the 4x100 meter medley relay, in which she swam the breaststroke leg. At the 2020 Summer Olympics, King won a silver medal in the 4x100 meter medley relay for her efforts in the prelims, the silver medal in the 200-meter breaststroke, and the bronze medal in the 100-meter breaststroke. At the 2024 Summer Olympics, she won a gold medal in the 4x100 meter medley relay, where she swam the breaststroke leg. She is the current world record holder in the long course 100-meter breaststroke.
Blake John Pieroni is a three-time Olympic gold medalist in swimming. He is a two time Olympian and gold medalist in the 4×100-meter freestyle relay at both the 2016 Summer Olympics and the 2020 Summer Olympics. On the relay in 2016, he swam in the prelims of the race, on the 2020 Olympics 4×100-meter freestyle relay he swam in both the prelims and the final. He also won a gold medal in the 4x100-meter medley relay at the 2020 Olympic Games, swimming the freestyle leg of the relay in the prelims.
William Andrew Licon is an American competitive swimmer who specializes in breaststroke and medley events. He previously competed for the professional team LA Current in the International Swimming League. Licon is a three-time World Championship medalist, a two-time Pan American Games gold medalist and has been a member of the United States national team since 2015. He is the current American record-holder and former NCAA & US Open record-holder in the 200-yard breaststroke.
Ilya Syarheyevich Shymanovich is a Belarusian swimmer. He is the world record holder in the short course 100 metre breaststroke and a former world record holder in the short course 50 metre breaststroke. At the 2018 World Championships he won two silver medals, one each in the 100 metre breaststroke and the 50 metre breaststroke. He won two gold medals, one in the 50 metre breaststroke and one in the 200 metre breaststroke, and a silver medal, in the 100 metre breaststroke, at the 2021 European Short Course Championships. At the 2021 World Short Course Championships he won the gold medal in the 100 metre breaststroke.
Team Iron is a professional swimming team co-owned by Katinka Hosszú, and a founding member of the International Swimming League. The team is based in Budapest, Hungary, led by general manager Dorina Szekeres and head coach Jozsef Nagy.
London Roar is a professional swimming club based in London and one of the first clubs of the International Swimming League (ISL) to be formed. It was formed in March 2019, with an international roster of swimmers including Adam Peaty who was among the first to support the formation of ISL independent of FINA. It is run by its general manager Rob Woodhouse. London hosted the sixth of the seven meets in ISL's inaugural season in 2019. The team finished second in 2019 and third in 2020.
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Ryan Hoffer is an American competitive swimmer who specializes in freestyle and butterfly events. He competes as part of the International Swimming League for the team DC Trident. Hoffer is currently the national age group record holder in the 100 yard freestyle for the boys 17-18 year old age group. He won two silver medals at the 2015 FINA World Junior Swimming Championships in relay events.
The 2021 International Swimming League was the third and final edition of the International Swimming League, a professional swimming league, established in 2019. It comprised ten teams composed of both women and men. The league, due to COVID-19 pandemic travel restrictions, consisted of a total of eighteen short course swimming meets, called matches, spanning four stages of competition and held in two locations. In each match, swimmers from four different teams competed in individual, relay, and skins events. The ten regular season matches and one play in match took place in the city of Naples, Italy. The six play off matches in the semifinals stage of competition took place in the city of Eindhoven, Netherlands, as did the final match.
Lorenzo Mora is a competitive Italian swimmer. He is a world record holder in the short course 4×50 metre medley relay. He is the Italian record holder in the short course 100 metre backstroke and 200 metre backstroke. In the 50 metre backstroke, he won the silver medal at the 2021 World Short Course Championships and the bronze medal at the 2022 Mediterranean Games. In the 100 metre backstroke, he won the silver medal at each the 2022 World Short Course Championships and the 2022 Mediterranean Games. In the 200 metre backstroke, he won the bronze medal at the 2022 World Short Course Championships, the silver medal at the 2021 European Short Course Championships, and the gold medal at the 2022 Mediterranean Games.