Skins magic pays off for Energy Standard at ISL London

The skins, a three-round 50 freestyle eliminator, are worth up to triple points in the final, and Energy Standard had proven to be formidable in the format early in the season. That continued in London.

After coming into the day holding a slight lead, the club was overtaken by the London Roar after the first relay, and went into the skins trailing by 16.5 points.

In the skins, however, Energy Standard outscored London by 25.5 points, including a pair of second-place finishes from Sarah Sjostrom and Florent Manaudou, as they topped the Roar by nine – 467.5 to 458.5 – to earn the victory.

“We knew it would always be like that,” said Energy Standard head coach James Gibson on the match coming down to the skins. “London are such a great team and they’re going to add a lot more strength and depth to their field for Vegas. But, we were confident in our strategy, I didn’t change my tactics once, and we’ve got a great team.”

Energy Standard’s Sjostrom won the women’s 50 butterfly and took third in the 100 free in addition to her skins performance, closing out the match with 44 points to sit second overall in the MVP standings.

After dominating the first two matches on her schedule, the 50 fly was Sjostrom’s lone individual victory in the derby. She has now won the event at all three of her stops.

“I’m very happy with it, it’s great to win my first race here in London,” she said post-race. “It feels great. It’s my best event this year, so I’m very pleased with that.”

Winning the MVP award was her teammate and fellow captain Chad Le Clos, who claimed the men’s 200 fly, placed second in the 50 fly, and touched third in the 100 free for a total of 44.5 points. This was Le Clos’ first MVP win of the season.

Also picking up a key win for Energy Standard on Day 2 was Russian Evgeny Rylov, who engineered a massive comeback to win the men’s 100 backstroke over London’s Guilherme Guido. That was the first time Guido had lost a 50 or 100 back race all season.

The Roar were led by Emma McKeon and Duncan Scott, who finished third and (tied) fourth in the MVP standings with 43.5 and 40.0 points scored respectively.

After a busy Day 1, McKeon took second in the women’s 100 free, third in the skins, and also contributed to London’s two winning relays on Day 2. Scott, who was making his ISL debut this weekend, had a come-from-behind win in the men’s 200 individual medley, swam on the club’s winning mixed free relay, and had a surprise third-place finish in the skins.

Also having a standout showing for London was Minna Atherton and Cate Campbell. Atherton remained undefeated in the women’s backstroke events, winning the 100, and also led off their victorious medley relay. Campbell won the women’s 100 free and was on both of their first-place relays as well.

Bringing the hometown crowd to their feet was British star Adam Peaty, who won a close race with Energy Standard’s Ilya Shymanovich in the men’s 100 breaststroke.

Locked in a tight battle for third throughout the entire match, Iron’s continued dominance in the skins events led them to a third-place finish over the Aqua Centurions.

Iron trailed the Rome-based club by 9.5 points coming into the skins, but back-to-back wins from Ranomi Kromowidjojo and Vladimir Morozov put them a comfortable 34 points clear by the end.

This gives Iron five skins victories out of a possible six this season, which came to an end with a third-place finish on Sunday.

In the women’s race, both Kromowidjojo and Energy’s Sjostrom came into the match undefeated in the skins, and in a showdown in the final, Kromowidjojo got it done to finish her season a perfect 3-for-3.

“I’m really happy with the win, and the three skins (titles),” said Kromowidjojo, who won a pair of Olympic gold medals seven years ago in the same pool she competed in this weekend. “It’s great to be back in London after winning gold in 2012. I just think of the 2012 Olympics and it gave me a lot of power for today.”

Morozov then edged out Manaudou to win the men’s event for the second time, finishing in a tie for fourth overall with Scott in the MVP race (40 points).

Contributing 34.5 points to the Iron effort was captain Katinka Hosszu, who won both the women’s 200 fly and 200 IM to finish the match with three individual victories.

The Aqua Centurions couldn’t muster a win on Day 2, but overall had their best performance of the season. Leading them in points was the newly acquired Vladislav Grinev, who tied for second in the men’s 100 free and also swam the lead-off leg on their runner-up mixed free relay.

With the regular season now concluded, Energy Standard and London Roar will officially join the Cali Condors and LA Current in the League Final next month in Las Vegas.