T&T'S Olympic bound Cherelle Thompson and Dylan Carter missed out on an opportunity to improve their records at Friday's Short Course Trials of the Amateur Swimming Association of T&T which was held at the National Aquatic Centre in Balmain, Couva. However, they gained some much-needed practice ahead of tomorrow's Long Course event at which an opportunity will be presented for the swimmers to improve their qualifying times ahead of next year's Olympic Games in Tokyo Japan, or the Junior Pan American Games in 2021. The event will take place at the Couva venue.
Carter, who ended his 2020 International Swimming League (ISL) campaign in Budapest, Hungary with a fourth-place finish in the men’s 100-metre backstroke in a time of 49.91 seconds, went in pursuit of the 50-Meter Freestyle record which was set by T&T's Olympic bronze medallist George Bovell III back in 2012 in a time of 20.82 seconds. However, despite being fresh from his exploits in Budapest, Carter finished just short in the event, touching the finish in a time of 21.39 seconds.
It was the only event contested by Carter who only recently returned home and promised to spend some time with family and friends before going back into training ahead of a busy schedule next year.
Carter will have another chance tomorrow in the long course, to better his qualifying times.
Meanwhile, Thompson challenged her own record in the 50-metre Freestyle which she set last year in a time of 24.89 seconds, but on Friday she fell agonisingly short, producing a time 26.20 seconds.
In fact, despite a series of excellent performances on the night, no swimmer was able to break any of the existing records.
Gabrielle Vickles later fell short of breaking a 27-year old 50-Metre record of 26.03 seconds, that was set by former national swimming machine Siobhan Cropper in 1993 when she (Vickles) touched the wall in a time of 27.47 seconds.
Cropper's record of in the one minute, 04.21 seconds in the 100 Metre Butterfly in 1994 also withstood the test by DeNicha DeNicha.
Another top T&T swimmer Giovanni Rivas took more than three attempts to break existing records but to no avail. In one, he took on the 11-12 200 Meter Backstroke record that was set by Nicholas Bovell, the younger brother Goerge Bovell III, but he failed to finish.
