T&T swimmer Dylan Carter splashed off this country's medal hopes at the World Aquatics Championships with a 21st-place finish in the men's 50 metres butterfly on Saturday night (Sunday morning TT time) at the World Aquatics Arena in the Singapore Sports Hub.
This after the 29-year-old, a three-time World Swimming Championship medal winner, was seventh in the tenth of 11 heats in the morning preliminaries.
Swimming from lane three in the ten-man line-up, Carter, a 17-time Swimming World Cup medal winner (11 gold, three silver, three bronze), had a reaction time of 0.66 seconds to get to the wall in 23.36 seconds.
Canada's Ilya Khuran won the heat in 22.85 to be the third-fastest qualifier overall and was joined in the top 16 swimmers, semifinal from the heat by Egypt's Abdelrahman Sameh (2.21) who was jointed 12th with Brazilian Guilherme Garibe while Holland's Sean Niewold and USA's Michael Andrew, who touched the wall in 23.22, the 15th best time.
Hungarian Szebastian Szabo (23.29) and Kazakhstan's Adilbek Mussin (23.33) were fourth and fifth, respectively, in heat ten to qualify as the reserves for the semifinals in the 17th and 18th spots, while Japan's Katsuhiro Matsumoto (23.34) was joint 19th with Oleg Kostin of Namibia, one spot ahead of Carter.
The other finishers in heat ten were Ireland's Shane Ryan (23.46), Israel's Meiron Amir Cheruti (23.51) and Japan's Taikan Tanaka in 23.58.
The top qualifier overall from the heats was France's Maxime Grousset in 22.74 in winning heat nine, while Switzerland's Noe Ponti won the 11th and final heat in the same time.
In the semifinals, Grousset maintained his top form to win the second heat in 22.61 to secure his spot in today's final and he was joined by Ponti (22.72) who won heat two, Great Britain's Benjamin Proud (22.74), Holland's Nyls Korstanje (22.75), Portugal's Diogo Ribeiro (22.83), Italy's Thomas Ceccon (22.84), Garibe (22.91) and Germany's Luca Armruster, who also clocked 22.91.
Carter who secured World Championship Short Course bronze medals in the 50m butterfly in Hangzhou, China in 2018 and the 50m freestyle in Melbourne, Australia in 2022 while he won silver in the 50m butterfly in 2021 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates in 2021, will now turn his attention to the men's 50m freestyle heats on Friday, (August 1).
Sunday (July 27) night, the USA-based trio of T&T swimmers Zuri Ferguson, Liam Carrington and Nikoli Blackman were scheduled to begin their respective campaigns.
Ferguson, who is set to start school at the University of Florida, was to line up in heat three of six in the women's 100m backstroke against Cuban Caraballo Estrada, Argentina's Andrea Berrino, Estonia's Maari Randvaeli, Singapore's Levenia Sim, Slovenian Janja Segel, Bulgarian Gabriela Georgieva, Hong Kong's Cindy Sum Yuet Cheung, Moldova's Natalia Zaiteva and Uruguayan Abril Aunchayna, with the semifinals in the afternoon session followed by the final a day later.
Bolles High School student-athlete Carrington was to go into action in the second of six men's 100m backstroke heats from lane four against Iceland's Gudmundir Leo Rafnsson, Latvia's Nikolass Deicmans, Tunisian Mohamed Yassine Ben Abbes, Aruba's Patrick Groters, Singapore's Zheng Wen Quah, Luxembourg's Remi Fabiani, Hong Kong's Hayden Kwan, Thailand's Tonnam Kanteemool, and Chile's Edhy Vargas.
Blackman, who attends the University of Tennessee and is a former World Junior 50m freestyle champion, was to compete in the men's 200m freestyle in heat four of six from lane nine with Brazil's Guilherme Costa, Finland's Tomas Koski, Poland's Kamil Sieradski, Lithuania's Danas Rapsys, USA's Gabriel Jett, Great Britain's James Guy, Italy's Filipo Megli, Switzerland's Antonio Djakovic and Norway's Sander Sorensen.
The fifth member of the T&T swimming contingent, USA-based Isabella Dieffenthaller of Brown University, will dive into action tonight (Monday), in the second of six heats in the women's 200m freestyle heats, where she faces Thailand's Kamonchanok Kwanmuang, Cuba's Andrea Becali Marti, Singapore's Chin Hwee Gan, Denmark's Elisabeth Ebbesen, Venezuela's Maria Victoria Cottin, Mongolia's Enkhkhusien Batbayar, Belgium's Camille Henveaux, Holland's Femke Spiering, and Malta's Sa Gatt.
