T&T’s Dylan Carter returned to his golden best when he won the men's 50-metre freestyle final on the opening night of finals at the third and final leg of the World Aquatics Swimming World Cup at the OCBC Aquatic Center in Singapore on Thursday.
Carter won in a time of 21.06 seconds at the World Cup, which splashed off on October 18 in Shanghai, China, just ahead of USA's Jack Dolan (21.07) and Germany's Marius Kusch (21.09) for his fourth win in the event's history. He had three straight wins in 2022 en route to the overall men's World Cup title. The 28-year-old California-born Carter was eighth in the second leg in Incheon, Korea last week in 21.34.
However, Carter, who had the second-fastest reaction time of 0.62 seconds, only bettered by Holland's Kenzo Simons' 0.60, was not to be denied this time around as he made his positioning in lane five for the eight-man final work to perfection and was nicely placed in the second spot at the 25m split with a time of 9.98 seconds, only behind Kusch's time of 9.95 while Australian Isaac Cooper was third in 10.05.
A three-time Olympian, as well as a three-time World Short Course Championship medal winner, Carter then turned on the burners on the turn for home to have the fastest second-half split of 10.84 to the wall first in 20.82, the only swimmer under 21 seconds in the final, and just 0.12 off his 20.70 personal best time set at the 2022 Short Course World Championships.
Aussie sprinter Cooper who had a second-half split of 10.96 moved up one spot into second in 21.01, slightly quicker than his silver medal-garnering performance of 21.07 in Incheon in mid-week while Kusch who clocked 11.09 over the second half of the race, third in 21.04 for his second bronze in the event after a similar finish in Shanghai.
The other finishers in the final were Holland's Nyls Korstanje (21.12), USA's Jack Dolan (21.16), Simons (21.21), Estonian Ralf Tribuntsov (21.23) and second-leg winner Korea's Ji Yuchan in 21.28.
With the win, Carter improved to five gold medals at the World Cup in the men's 50m freestyle adding the first-leg victory to his triple feat of winning three 50m freestyle, 50m backstroke, and 50m butterfly gold medals at three straight stops in Berlin, Germany; Toronto, Canada; and Indianapolis, USA in 2022 to equal Olympic bronze medal winner George Bovell III's five gold medals at the World Cup in the same event, inclusive of four in 2012 (Stockholm, Sweden); (Moscow, Russia); (Beijing, China); and (Tokyo, Japan), and one in 2014 in Singapore.
Carter will now target Bovell III's next World Cup record mark of eight wins in one event after the former Auburn University swimming ace won eight 100m medley gold medals and one 200m medley gold among his 41 World Cup medals, which also featured 20 silver and eight bronze.
In the morning heats Carter took the first heat six, posting a time of 20.96, besting Simons by nearly half a second as the Junior World Record holder stopped the clock in 21.41 as they clocked the second and eighth best times, respectively.
The next heat saw Korstanje also go under 21.00 as the Dutchman was out in sub 9.95 (the only sub 10 split in the field) and closed in to hit the wall in 20.88, holding off the fast-charging Dolan who stopped the clock at 21.00, ahead of Australian Olympian Isaac Cooper’s 21.18 while from the eighth and final heat Kusch won in 21.03, just inching out Yuchan (21.07).
A former University of Southern California Trojans standout swimmer Carter will return to the pool to contest the 50m backstroke, and 100m freestyle today.
In the 50m backstroke, Carter starts in lane six of the fifth and final heat against Dolan, Cooper, New Zealand's Jack Hendy, Croatian Nikola Miljenic, Philippines Metin Mahmutoglu, Kusch, South African Pieter Coetze and home town entrants Brien Lim, and Yi Chan.
In the 100m freestyle, he competes in the tenth of 11 heats also from lane six versus Malaysia's Yin Chuen Lim, Australian Edward Sommerville, New Zealand's Hugo Wrathall, China's Juner Chen, New Zealand's Carter Swift, Denmark's Rasmus Nickelsen, Aussie duo Matthew Temple and Jesse Coleman and Singapore's Sage Tan.
On Saturday, Carter is expected to close off with the 50m butterfly on Saturday (November 2) ahead of his next major event, the World Aquatic Championship in Budapest, Hungary, from December 10-15.
Walker makes World Cup bow in backstroke
First into action in the third event on the opening day's schedule for T&T was Ornella Walker of YMCA Aqua Warriors was fifth in the fourth and final women's 50m backstroke heat in 28.69, a new personal best improving on her 29.02 from 2021 for the 13th best time overall.
The winner of her heat was USA's Regan Smith in the top qualifying mark at 26.01 with Australian Iona Anderson next in 26.26, followed by Sweden's Louise Hansson (27.01) and New Zealand's Isabelle Gibson (28.05) with the seventh and 11th fastest times, respectively.
A three-time CCCAN bronze medal winner in the 200m backstroke (2:27:02 mins), 100m backstroke (1:03:83), and 50m backstroke (29.67 secs), the Tobago-born Walker winner of five medals at the Pan American Age-Group Swimming Championship in 2022, will return to the pool today (Friday) for the second of four 100m backstroke heats against Indonesia's Emilie Madeline Bawono, USA's Kaitie Grimes and Beata Nelson, Australian Hannah Jane Fredericks and host swimmers Julia Yeo, Myra Li, Maile Sullivan, Maddy Harrison and Charlotte Ng.