ISL Expansion Teams Toronto Titans, Tokyo Frog Kings Reveal Inaugural Rosters
The success of the inaugural International Swimming League (ISL) season propelled the league to add two new teams for its second season, increasing its international reach into Canada and Japan. Wednesday’s kickoff press conference included the release of the inaugural rosters for the Toronto Titans and the Tokyo Frog Kings.
Toronto boasts more ISL experience, with 13 swimmers who took part in the inaugural season, plus a veteran hand in Brent Hayden, who’s come out of retirement. The team, overseen by general manager Rob Kent, is coached by Byron McDonald and backed by a spine of top Canadian talent, including Yuri Kisil, Kelsey Wog, Kayla Sanchez and Kylie Masse.
“I had a fantastic time last year in the ISL and this season, as everyone has mentioned, it’ll look a bit different and it’ll be a bit different for us swimmers and athletes,” Masse said during Wednesday’s introductory press conferene. “But I think that will be a great challenge and it gives us an opportunity to race when we don’t have any other races available to us, and I’m looking forward to the different setup and this challenge.”
Canadian international Penny Oleksiak, rumored to be joining the Titans, was absent from Wednesday’s rosters, as is Russian Anton Chupkov. Sanchez was omitted from the rosters revealed by ISL, but Kent confirmed that she is on the team.
The Frog Kings are overwhelmingly composed of Japanese swimmers. The only Japanese swimmer in the ISL last year was Daiya Seto with Energy Standard, who joins the Tokyo outfit. The expansion to Tokyo under the aegis of breaststroke legend Koskuke Kitajima has brought out many of the nation’s top talents, including Ryosuke Irie, Kosuke Hagino and Yui Ohashi.
“When I first saw ISL season 1, I could not believe that such a platform was created for top swimmers,” Kitajima said in a prepared statement Wednesday. “I jumped at the chance to create a team in Tokyo. 2020 has seen the world totally changed, and swimmers were shocked that most competitions were cancelled. I want to thank everyone at the ISL for believing in this project to bring the opportunity to all swimmers. Tokyo Frog Kings are proud to be a part of the second season of ISL. I hope that this year’s races will help to promote swimming and bring hope and enjoyment to all sports fans.”
Dave Salo is the team’s technical director. Two Americans, Leah Smith and Catie DeLoof, are on the team, among only three of the 16 Frog King women who swam in ISL in 2019.
(ISL 2019 team in parenthesis)
Toronto Titans
Michael Chadwick; Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick
Men
- Shane Ryan (LA Current)
- Andriy Govorov
- Aleksandr Krasnykh
- Sergey Fesikov
- Yuri Kisil (London Roar)
- Jay Lelliott
- Eric Persson
- Cole Pratt
- Mack Darragh (New York Breakers)
- Blake Pieroni (LA Current)
- Michael Chadwick (LA Current)
- Anton McKee
- Brent Hayden
- Finlay Knox (London Roar)
- Alberto Razzetti
Women
Kelsey Wog Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick
- Lisa Bratton (DC Trident)
- Anna Egorova
- Julia Meynen
- Anastasia Fesikova
- Kelsey Wog (Cali Condors)
- Jocelyn Ulyett (Energy Standard)
- Anika Apostalon (DC Trident)
- Kylie Masse (Cali Condors)
- Rebecca Smith (Energy Standard)
- Kayla Sanchez (Energy Standard)
- Louise Hansson
- Michelle Coleman
- Claire Fisch
- Emily Overholt (New York Breakers)
- Tess Cieplucha
Tokyo Frog Kings
Men
Ryosuke Irie Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick
- Vladimir Morozov (Iron)
- Daiya Seto (Energy Standard)
- Markus Thormeyer (New York Breakers)
- Bruno Fratus (London Roar)
- Koskue Hagino
- Ryosuke Irie
- Takeshi Kawamoto
- Yuki Kobori
- Yashuhiro Koseki
- Kosuke Matsui
- Katsuhiro Matsumoto
- Naoki Mizunuma
- Cristian Quintero
- Shoma Sato
- Shinri Shioura
Leah Smith; Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick
Women
- Simona Kubova (DC Trident)
- Catie De Loof (New York Breakers)
- Leah Smith (LA Current)
- Reona Aoki
- Suzuka Hasegawa
- Runa Imai
- Chichiro Igarashi
- Anna Ntountounaki
- Yui Ohashi
- Natsumi Sakai
- Aya Sato
- Sakiko Shimizu
- Rio Shirai
- Miho Teramura
- Ai Soma
- Tomomi Aoki
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- ISL WEBSITE
- SEASON 2 SCHEDULE
- EUROPEAN ROSTERS
- AMERICAN ROSTERS
- TOKYO & TORONTO NEW ROSTERS
- CBS TV AGREEMENT
- MATCH ONE RESULTS (CONDORS, ENERGY, CURRENT, BREAKERS)
- MATCH TWO RESULTS (ROAR, IRON, TRIDENT, CENTURIONS)
- MATCH THREE RESULTS (CURRENT, FROG KINGS, TITANS, CENTURIONS)
- MATCH FOUR RESULTS (CONDORS, IRON, BREAKERS, TRIDENT)
- MATCH FIVE RESULTS (ROAR, CURRENT, FROG KINGS, TRIDENT)
- MATCH SIX RESULTS (ENERGY, TITANS, BREAKERS, CENTURIONS)
- MATCH SEVEN RESULTS (ENERGY, IRON, TITANS, TRIDENT)
- MATCH EIGHT RESULTS (CONDORS, ROAR, FROG KINGS, BREAKERS)
- MATCH NINE RESULTS (ENERGY, FROG KINGS, IRON, TITANS)
- MATCH TEN RESULTS (CONDORS, CURRENT, ROAR, CENTURIONS)
- SEMI ONE RESULTS
- SEMI TWO RESULTS
- GRAND FINAL RESULTS