T&T's Dylan Carter delivered his eighth gold medal of the FINA Swimming World Cup, a victory in the 50-metre backstroke on Friday to almost confirm him as king of the 50m events in the world.
For his triumph, Carter received a US$10,000 bonus for the second time in two days and 935 points, as he strolls toward the US$100,000 winner's cheque overall.
Competing in lane two of the final, 26-year-old Carter, who only the day before celebrated his gold-medal win in the 50m freestyle, was out in front when he entered the water at the start. And with the field ripping at his throat, Carter produced a gutsy display in the dying metres to claim the gold medal in a time of 22.72 seconds.
Ryan Murphy, representing the USA, stormed home for the silver medal in a time of 22.99, swimming out of lane one, with America's Justin Ress securing the bronze medal after posting a time of 23.07. Another American Coleman Stewart was fourth after posting 23.13.
Earlier in the qualifiers, Carter was again a cut above the rest as he sprinted to the victory in heat five at 23.40, to seal his entry into the final. He was followed by second-place Gabriel Fantoni of Brazil at 23.47 with Japan's Takeshi Kawamoto sealing the final qualifying berth from the heat.
Last week, Carter won the gold medal in the event in the second leg of the World Cup Series in Toronto, Canada. Apart from winning the three 50m freestyle events for the series, Carter has also won gold medals in the two 50m butterfly events as well as the two 50m backstroke events of the three legs.
However, he placed little to no focus on the longer 100m freestyle events, and yesterday he failed to make it to the final, despite claiming the win in heat eight of the qualifiers in 47.58 seconds.
His time proved to be not fast enough, with Brazil's Breno Correia taking second (47.63) and his countryman Gabriel Santos in third (47.78) - all failing to progress to last night's final.
Meanwhile, T&T's Aqeel Joseph did not make the qualifying marks in both the 50m backstroke and the 100m freestyle.
Swimming out of lane seven in heat two of the 50m qualifiers, Joseph returned home in the sixth position, posting a time of 26.18in an event that was eventually won by Egypt's Youssef Ramadan in 24.07. Ramadan too did not make the qualifying time to qualify for the final.
Later in the 100m freestyle, Joseph placed third in heat one in 51.37, to miss the final for a second time. The race was won by Victor Alcora of Brazil, who also failed to qualify for the title swim.
