Today at noon (U.S. Eastern Time), the International Swimming League will hold a press conference announcing rosters for half of its 8 inaugural franchises. That includes two of the four American franchises which so far have no official athlete announcements. (The European teams have been revealing their rosters on social media as they’ve signed athletes, so we have a good portion of their rosters already nailed down.

We’ll be following the press conference live, trying to capture as much of the new information, announcements and athlete quotes as we can. Stay tuned to this page and keep refreshing for live updates from the press conference.

Also keep tabs on the SwimSwam frontpage, where we’ll be posting more full roster announcements as we get them.

Rosters expected to be announced today:

Group A: Announced 6/11/2019

Cali Condors

DC Trident

AquaCenturions

Energy Standard

Group B: Announced 6/18/2019

LA Current

New York Breakers

Team Iron

London Roar

Live Updates

10:30 AM: In the pre-press conference setup, we’ve already seen Lilly King and Olivia Smoliga, suggesting they are members of either the Condors or the Trident. Cody Miller has been mentioned as a press conference participant as well.

11:00 AM: The Rome-based Aqua Centurions are first up, introduced by Alessandra Guerra and Marita Guglielmi. “ISL is the future and we are so proud of being part of this adventure,” Guglielma said. She named Fabio Scozzoli as the team’s vice captain.

11:10 AM: Next up was GM Jason Lezak of the Cali Condors. He introduced two of his athletes: Lilly King and Olivia Smoliga. “I think the league is really going to change how we see swimming,” King said.

“We are the team to beat,” Smoliga said with a laugh in some light trash talking with the other franchises.

Their roster includes Kelsi Dahlia, Mallory Comerford, Townley Haas, Hali Flickinger, Melanie Margalis and Australians Ariarne Titmus and Jack Cartwright among others.

11:15 AM: Next are the DC Trident, GM’d by Kaitlin Sandeno, who introduced Cody Miller and Natalie Coughlin, who will be competing for the Trident as an athlete.

“Many people assumed that I was retired,” Coughlin said. “I very purposefully and thoughtfully never retired.

“When I decided not to make a retirement announcement, it was to compete in fun competitions,” Coughlin said. She says Sandeno asked her about six weeks ago to join her roster, and that she ultimately decided to compete and stay in the competitive swimming community, even after recently becoming a mother. She says she kickstarted her training about six weeks ago.

DC’s roster includes Kevin Cordes, Zane Grothe, Siobhan Haughey, Katie Ledecky and Jay Litherland, among others.

11:20 AM: Finally, the Energy Standard Club announced their roster with two representatives: Florent Manaudou and captain Sarah Sjostrom.

Their roster includes Chad le Clos, Penny Oleksiak, Ben Proud, Evgeny Rylov and Anton Chupkov, among others.

11:25 AM: We asked what the GMs prioritized in recruiting athletes for their teams:

Sandeno: she mentioned versatility, but especially emphasized powerful women. Sandeno explained her rationale for going after Coughlin, who she says has been an icon and a hugely impactful swimmer for women in the sport. She also emphasized depth, comparing it to the NCAA format.

James Gibson (Energy Standard): he focused on athletes who could step up in the moment, who were versatile and willing to take on challenges. Gibson also mentioned athletes with a background in team swimming.

11:30 AM: Miller, who grew up near Las Vegas, talked about the excitement of competing in a meet in an arena in Las Vegas. “10-year-old me would be so excited,” Miller laughed.

11:35 AM: Coughlin, asked about her competition plans outside of the ISL, said she “probably should shake off the cobwebs” at a different competition first, but didn’t have any specific meet plans. She emphasized her liking of the short course format, and said she’d probably focus on sprints, though she’d swim whatever Sandeno needed her to. Coughlin said she was excited about the challenge of getting back into shape, but pointedly did not make any comments about other international meets like U.S. Nationals or Olympic Trials in 2020.

Full rosters:

Aqua Centurions:

Cali Condors:

DC Trident:

Anika Apostalon

Zach Apple

Lisa Bratton

Kevin Cordes

Natalie Coughlin

Abraham DeVine

Ian Finnerty

Bethay Galat

Sarah Gibson

Zane Grothe

Zach Harting

Siobahn Haughey

Tristan Hollard

Madison Kennedy

Katie Ledecky

Jay Litherland

Cody Miller

Leiston Pickett

Gabriel Santos

Jeremy Stravius

Giles Smith

Brianna Throssell

Sion Whittaker

Andeas Vazaois

Energy Standard: