Three-time World Short Course medal winner, Dylan Carter will be hoping to book his spot in his first final at this year's World Aquatics Championship after two attempts when he contests his pet event, the men's 50 metres freestyle at the Duna Arena in Budapest, Hungary on Saturday from 5.36 am (TT time).
The 28-year-old, a Commonwealth Games silver medal winner and ten-time Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games medallist, will line up in the 12th and final heat in the men’s 50m freestyle from lane five against Sweden’s Elias Persson, Estonia’s Daniel Zaitsev, Ireland’s Thomas Fannon, France's Maxime Grousset, Hungary’s Szebasztian Szabo, Italy’s Leonardo Deplano, Japan’s Masahiro Kawane, Austria’s Heiko Gigler and Israel’s Meiron Amir Cheruti.
So far at the World Championship, Carter who won a 50m freestyle bronze medal in Melbourne, Australia two years ago and is a multiple Olympian, had a ninth-placed finish overall in the men's 50m butterfly in 22.16 seconds to just miss out on a spot in the eight-man final after he qualified to the semifinals as the joint seventh-fastest qualifier in 22.18, the same time as host swimmer Szebasztian Sazbo.
A winner of silver medal in the 50-metre butterfly in 2021 in Abu Dhabi and bronze in the same event in 2018 in Hangzhou, China, Carter also qualified to the 100m freestyle semifinal in the joint 11th-spot in 46.63 seconds with Lithuania's Tomas Navikonis, however, the T&T swimmer opted to scratch the semifinals to focus on the 50m freestyle while he also opted out of the 50m backstroke
Last month, Carter, a former University of Southern California Trojans standout swimmer warmed up for the season-ending Championship by competing in the three stops of the World Aquatics Swimming World Cup.
In the final leg in Singapore, Carter placed fifth in the men’s 50m butterfly in 22.27 seconds after he clocked Carter in 22.53 in the heats; while he won bronze in the 100m freestyle in 46.60; fifth in the men’s 50m backstroke final in 23.13, and gold in the men’s 50m freestyle in 20.82, just 0.12 off his 20.70 personal best time set at the 2022 Short Course World Championships.
When the World Cup began back on October 18 in Shanghai, China, the Santa Clara, California-born Carter won gold in the men’s 50m freestyle in 21.06 seconds for his fourth win in the event history after three straight wins in 2022 on the way to the overall men’s World Cup title.
He was placed sixth in the 100m freestyle in 47.02; eighth in the 50m backstroke in 23.65 and fifth in the 50m butterfly in 22.53.
Carter then competed in the second leg in Korea at the Munhak Park Tae-Hwan Swimming Pool in Michuhol-gu, Incheon where he missed out on a top-three finish in any of his four events.
In the 50m freestyle, Carter was eighth to the wall in 21.34 while he was ninth in both the 100m freestyle (47.43) and 50m backstroke (23.74) as well as 11th in the 50m butterfly.
USA-based Zuri Ferguson also made her championship debut for T&T after doing so at the Olympic Games earlier this year as well and has so fare stablished two new national records.
Firstly, Ferguson, 17, who attends the University of Florida set a new national record in the women's 100m backstroke of one minute, 00.12 seconds for the 35th best time overall which bettered the previous mark of one minute, 01,92 held by Ornella Walker.
Then in the 50m backstroke, Ferguson became the first T&T woman to go under 28 seconds when she touched the wall in 27.83 for the 32nd spot overall, which bettered another of Walker's national record, 28.69 which she did last month as well as the 15-17 age-group mark of 29.30.
Tomorrow (Sunday), T&T's third member of the swim team, University of Tennessee student, Nikoli Blackman will get his first taste of competition in the second of seven 200m freestyle heats alongside Antigua and Barbuda’s Stefano Mitchell, Pakistan’s Aryaan Din, Syria’s Omar Abbass, Egypt’s Abdalla Youssef Nasr, Bosnia Herzegovina Jovan Lekic, Lebanon’s Simon Doueihy, Philippines Adrian Eichler, Kosovo’s Arion Budima and Albania’s Reidi Resuli.
Ferguson will also be in action on Sunday's final day of competition when she contests her third and final event, the women’s 200m backstroke in heat two of five with Macau's Un Iao Wong, Lebanon’s Taline Mourad, Faroe Islands Elisabeth Erlendsdottir, Mongolia's Ariuntamir Enkh-Amgalan, Moldova’s Natalia Zaiteva, Mauritius Anishta Teeluck, Laurent Elisebeth Estrada of Cuba, Danielle Titus of Barbados and Guatemalan Melissa Diego.
