Freya Anderson once again underlined her talent, the 19 year old freestyler making a significant contribution to London Roar’s points tally, as the British based side all but secured their semi-final spots.
With the ISL season starting to reach its climax, Anderson delivered the second fastest 100m split of the season as she anchored Roar to second in the Women’s 4x100m Medley relay, with top spot out of reach by the time she left the blocks.
In fact the relays served up constant drama on a truly thrilling afternoon of action in the Hungarian capital, as early on in proceedings the Women’s 4x100m Freestyle sent the team seating areas into a frenzy as London Roar out-touched Cali Condors after a terrific duel. Anna Hopkin and Anderson, who have both been key to Roar’s success in the second season on the ISL, played their part, producing strong swims to put their team within two tenths of leaders Current at the halfway mark, their teammates finishing the job off. Minutes later Anderson also snatched fourth in the Women’s 50m Freestyle.
Of her form heading into day two of this final regular season match, the David McNulty coached athlete said:
“I just wanted to come off the last match nice and relaxed and I think I recovered well over the weekend, so then it was just about getting back into things. Today started off a bit slow, but once I finally got into it, it was really good! The atmosphere is still just as amazing so I can’t wait for day two.”
Luke Greenbank continued his good ISL form with another strong swim in the Men’s 200m Backstroke. Having broken the British record in one of the earlier matches, the National Centre Loughborough swimmer once again went close as he finished third in a world class field.The Brits also produced notable swims in the 400m Freestyle races, Tom Dean finishing exceptionally strongly, a big negative split seeing him come through for third in the men’s event, his first top three finish of the ISL season. On the female side Holly Hibbott also looked good in taking fourth, her best ISL finish of the season, as her form builds throughout the event.
Duncan Scott would highlight his relay skills once more in the final event of the day, the Men’s 4x100m Medley Relay, the Stirling University swimmer anchoring Roar to third. Now well known for his exploits on that final leg at the World Championships last summer as Great Britain made history in taking gold, it was therefore no surprise to see him produce another quality swim. There was no Adam Peaty in that event this time around, as he is rested ahead of the semi-final stage. Scott also swam a strong lead off leg in the Men’s 4x100m Freestyle, his Roar quartet eventually finishing fourth.
The morning match saw Brits in action for Energy Standard, Iron and Toronto Titans, with the former continuing their exceptional ISL form to lead the match overnight. With fatigue starting to set in for athletes across the board after an intense three weeks of back to back competition, it really was a war of attrition inside the Duna Arena.
Energy Standard took an impressive one-two finish in the Women’s 4x100m Medley Relay, with Georgia Davies and Imogen Clark (Winchester Penguins )swimming the backstroke and breaststroke legs for the quartet that took the runner-up spot. There were also notable swims for Max Litchfield, on his return from illness, and Jay Lelliott (City of Sheffield), the pair finishing fourth and fifth in the Men’s 400m Freestyle, Litchfield just a second shy of second place after a strong finish.
Day two of match nine gets underway at 9am tomorrow (Tuesday 10th November) live on Eurosport, whilst match 10, featuring London Roar, concludes from 3-5pm, live on the BBC.