T&T’s Dylan Carter had to settle for fifth spot in the men's 50-metre butterfly when the third and final leg of the World Aquatics Swimming World Cup concluded at the OCBC Aquatic Centre in Singapore on Saturday.
The 28-year-old, winner of the 50m freestyle gold and bronze in the 100m freestyle over the first two days, got home in 22.27 seconds, only ahead of Australian Isaac Cooper (22.35), Belarusian Grigori Pekarski (22.41), and South African Chad Le Clos (22.53).
Switzerland’s Noe Ponti earned gold once again, finishing in 21.64, to be just off his World Record of 21.50, which he swam in the morning session in the preliminary heats.
Netherlands’ Nyls Korstanje was right behind Ponti, earning the silver medal with a 21.74, a new Dutch record in the event, taking down the previous record of 21.96, which he set back at the Shanghai stop of the World Cup two weeks ago while Singapore’s Teong Tzen Wei took bronze in 22.11.
In the morning heats, Teong won heat six in 21.98 followed by Carter in 22.53, and le Clos in 22.59 for the third, sixth and seventh-fastest times in the heats overall. Ponti clocked 21.50 for the top time in winning heat seven ahead of Germany's Marius Kusch (22.39), who was fourth overall, with Korstanje (21.97) and Cooper (22.50) qualifying from heat two in the second and fifth positions, respectively, and Pekarski, eighth in 22.61 after winning heat one.
On Friday, Carter got bronze in the 100m freestyle in 46.60 to trail 20-year-old Pan Zhanle of China, the reigning Olympic champion and World record-holder in the Long Course Meet version of this event. He cracked a time of 46.09 to claim the victory to beat out Italy’s Thomas Ceccon, who snatched up silver in 46.25, while Carter touched the wall in 46.60 for bronze.
A former University of Southern California standout, Carter also had a fifth-place finish in the men’s 50m backstroke final in 23.13, with Australian Isaac Cooper (22.61) getting the better of South African Pieter Coetze (22.75) for the gold medal while Poland’s Kacper Stokowski took bronze in 23.05.
On Wednesday, Carter won the men’s 50m freestyle 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 for his second win in three finals this year and fifth win in the event overall.
Aussie sprinter Cooper got a silver medal-garnering performance of 21.01, while Kusch was third in 21.04 for his second bronze in the event after a similar finish in Shanghai.
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 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.
Throughout his World Cup exploits, Carter who earned two gold and a bronze during this year's staging of the World Cup now has 17 World Cup medals overall—11 gold, three silver and three bronze.
Carter will now resume his preparations for the next major event—the World Aquatics Short Course Championship in Budapest, Hungary, from December 10-15.
Walker 12th best in women’s 100m backstroke
National swimmer Ornella Walker of the YMCA Aqua Warriors followed a 13th-place finish in the women’s backstroke with a 12th spot in the women’s 100m backstroke.
This was after Walker ended in the fourth spot in heat two in one minute, 01.92 seconds, to finish behind the trio of USA’s Beata Nelson (57.33) and Katie Grimes (58.27), and Australian Hannah Jane Fredericks (58.43), who secured the third, sixth, and eighth fastest times, respectively.
On Wednesday, the Tobago-born Walker, a three-time CCCAN bronze medal winner, 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.
