T&T swimmer Dylan Carter captured one silver medal and two bronze on the second and final day of Match Day Five semifinal playoffs of the 2021 International Swimming League (ISL) in Eindhoven, Holland on Friday.
However, more importantly for the 25-year-old Carter and his London Roar teammates who failed to hold onto the top spot in the four-team playoff after leading by 16 points at the end of day one, was that they managed to take the second spot with 498.6 points which secured three vital team points to take their semifinal tally to an unassailable ten and certain of a spot in the four-team finals come December 3 and 4 at the same Pieter Van Den Hoogenband Stadium.
The winner of a gold medal as part of the London Roar’s 4x100 metres freestyle relay quartet on Thursday, Carter added a silver in the 100m freestyle and bronze in the 40m butterfly and 4x100 mixed medley events.
In the men’s 100m freestyle final, Carter, T&T's first-ever Commonwealth Games swimming medal winner added silver in 46.47 seconds after a split of 22.28 and the fastest second 50m of 24.19 to finish behind pre-race favourite and teammate, Australian Kyle Chalmers who won in 46.23 seconds. The Energy Standard’s Adam Barrett took third in 46.86.
The time by Carter was just outside of his new national record of 46.39 which he swam on the opening leg of Thursday’s 4x100m freestyle relay to better his old mark of 46.56 set last year during season two of the ISL which was contested in a “bubble” in Budapest, Hungary.
The other finishers in the event were DC Trident’s Aleksandr Shchegolev (46.93), LA Current duo, Maxime Rooney (47.07) and Kristian Gkolomeev (47.30), DC Trident’s Ryan Hoffer (47.64), and Energy Standard’s James Guy, in 47.89.
The Irvine-California-born Carter then looked set for victory in the 50m butterfly but he was chased down by his rivals in the final metres and had to settle bronze in 22.27 to carry his personal medal haul for the ISL season to 20.
Carter’s former LA Current teammate Tom Shields won in 22.15, while Energy Standard’s Ben Proud got silver in 22.25.
And Carter then capped off his day’s work in the pool as part of the bronze medal mixed 4x100 medley relay team for the London Roar.
Carter swam the lead-off led in 50.49 seconds, the third-fastest while his teammates, Jamaican Alia Atkinson clocked (54.90), Vini Lanza (50.35) and Freya Anderson (51.92) to combine for three minutes and 37.17 seconds.
Energy Standard won gold in 3:33.32 with LA Current, second in 3:35.87 while London Roar’ second team of Luke Greenbank (51.29), Sam Williamson (57.86), Marie Wattel (57.00), and Emma Mc Keon (51.49) touched in 3:37.64 for the fourth spot.
Atkinson completed the breaststroke double when she won the women’s 100m event in one minute, 04.38 seconds to beat LA Current’s Anastasia Gorbenko (1:05.13 mins) and Energy Standard’s Evgenia Chikunova (1:05.79) into second and third respectively
With only the finals to be contested Carter has won a total of 11 medals in the three semifinal match days, inclusive of three relay gold, four silver and four bronze.
When the preliminary ten rounds of competition concluded last month in Naples, Italy, Carter, had bagged nine medals in total, four gold, three silver, and two bronze which helped his team to 13 points from a maximum of 16 and third spot on the ten-club standings to be among the automatic semifinal qualifiers.
With one match left for each team starting on Thursday, Energy Standard who got two record-breaking swims on the day is certain of a share of top spot at least with 11 points from a possible 12, two ahead of Carter’s London Roar, while LA Current is third with eight points, one ahead of defending champions Cali Condors, but not certain as yet of a spot in the finals.
The Cali Condors have their final match day starting on Saturday and are favourites for the top spot and four points which will see them finish on 11 as well, sliding London Roar down to third.
But should, top-four chasing Toronto Titans (five), pull off the upset and pick up a maximum of four points as meet winners, they will move ahead of LA Current for the fourth spot.
Anything less than a win for Titans will hand LA Current a place in the final.
Final Match Day 5 standings:
Energy Standard – 561.5 points
London Roar – 498.5
LA Current – 415.5
DC Trident – 289.5
Current standings:
Position*Team*Matches Contested*Match Points*Team Points
1. Energy Standard*3*1,666.5*11
2. London Roar*3*1,527.5*10
3. LA Current*3*1,360*8
4. Cali Condors*2*1009*7
5. Toronto Titans*2*805.5*5
6. DC Trident*3*1,032*4
7. Aqua Centurions*2*747*3
8. Team Iron*2*664.5*2
Remaining ISL SEMIFINAL PLAYOFF SCHEDULE:
Match 6: November 27-28: #2 Cali Condors, #4 Toronto Titans, #6 Aqua Centurions, #8 Iron
Finals: December 3-4