T&T's Dylan Carter was the joint winner of heat six with South Korean Yuchan Ji in a new personal best of 21.91 seconds but came up short in his effort to reach the semifinals of the FINA World Long Course Championships men’s 50m freestyle at the Duna Arena in Budapest, Hungary on Thursday.
Coming off a fourth-place finish in the men's 50m butterfly and a semifinal appearance in the 100m freestyle, both in new national record times, the 26-year-old Carter was hoping to emulate George Bovell III as this country’s lone medallist at a Long Course Championships after the now-retired Bovell III won bronze in 2013 in the 50m freestyle in Barcelona in 21.51 seconds while a year earlier he also won a bronze medal in the 100m Individual Medley at the FINA World Short Course Championships in Istanbul, Turkey.
Swimming from lane two in his heat, Carter touched the wall in 22.19 seconds, for the top spot the same as lane six swimmer Ji as both swimmers tied for 17th spot overall, one position off the 16th and final semifinal qualifier, Venezuelan Alberto Vivas Mestre, who clocked 22.12 for the seventh spot in heat nine of ten.
The other finishers in heat six were Aruba’s Mikel Schreuders (22.44), Estonian Daniel Zaitsev (22.45), Argentina’s Guido Buscaglia (22.55), Algerian Oussama Sanhoune (22.56), South African Clayton Jimmie (22.74), Luxembourg’s Remi Fabiani (22.80), Bahamian Lamar Taylor (22.86), and Souhail Hamouchane of Morocco who touched the wall in 23.46.
The pair of Carter and Ji were then involved in a swim as it related to the semifinal reserves with the former University of Southern California Trojans swimmer, Carter clocking a new personal best of 21.91 which would have been good enough for the eighth-fastest qualifying time in the heats, with Ji, second home in 22.03, a time which would have been good enough for 13th best in the heats.
Two years ago at the FINA World Aquatics Championships in Gwangju, South Korea, Carter placed 41st in the 50m freestyle in 22.65 but he then improved on that time with 22.24 seconds in winning the B-Final at last month’s Mare Nostrum Meet in Canet-en-Roussillon, France before setting his new mark yesterday.
Heading the list of qualifiers to the semifinals was 32-year-old Bruno Fratus of Brazil who swam his 98th sub-22.00 seconds 100 freestyle in his career, with Canada’s Joshua Liendo second in 21.72, followed by USA's Michael Andrew (21.74), Great Britain's Benjamin Proud (21.76), Ukraine's Vladyslav Bukhov (21.87), Great Britain's Edward Burras (21.89), Greece's Kristian Gkolomeev (21.90) and Holland's Thom de Boer (21.91), the top eight qualifiers.
They were joined in the semifinals by Italian Lorenzo Zazzeri (21.95), Poland's Pawel Juraszek (21.97), France's Maxime Grousset (21.97), and Hungary's Szebasztian Szabo (21.99), who all went under 22 seconds while Israel's Amir Cheruti (22.07), Holland's Jesse Puts (22.09), and Mestre.
Speaking after his swim, Carter was quick to admit that he may have misjudged his swim in the heats, which unluckily for him cost him a spot in the semifinals, and ended his hopes of a medal.
Carter explained, "Today (Thursday), I think was just mismanaged as in the swim-off for 17th I swam a time that would have had me eighth in the heats, so it was just a little bit maybe poor execution on my path or being a little too conservative thinking that I would be comfortably into the semis, and I wasn't so all these things are part of the experience and gives me much more experience moving forward but 21.91 in the swim-off I am really happy with and pit puts me in really good shape heading into the Commonwealth Games.
"It's been great training this week and I am really excited for my next engagement."
On Tuesday, Carter lowered his personal best and national record for the second time on the day, but it was still not enough to book a spot in his second final, the men’s 100m freestyle.
Swimming from lane seven he placed eighth in the second of two semifinals in 48.30 seconds for the 14th spot overall of the 16 semifinalists.
In the heats, Carter competing from lane one of ten in heat ten of 11 touched the wall in a then-new personal best and national record of 48.40 for sixth in the heat and joint 11th-fastest overall with Aruban Schreuders who was the winner of heat eight in a national record mark as well.
Carter also broke his record from the 2019 World Championships (48.52), where he placed 12th by .12 seconds, after he placed 16th in the heats in 48.77 to qualify for the semifinals, while Schreuders beat his record from the 2019 Pan American Games by .68, putting the record below 49.00 for the first time.
On Sunday, Carter placed fourth in the men’s 50m butterfly final in a new national record time of 22.85 seconds from lane seven, his third straight swim under the 23 seconds mark in two days which bettered his previous record swim of 22.87 which he established in topping the list of qualifiers in the heats on Saturday.
In the semifinals, Carter qualified as the sixth fastest overall after he placed third in the second and final semifinal in 22.98 seconds, his second time under 23 seconds, behind Great Britain’s Benjamin Proud who won in 22.76.
Reflecting on his World Championship campaign, Carter said he was pleased with the effort and was now looking ahead to the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England next month.
He said, " I'm really happy with the swims as obviously I had some really good ones and the 50m butterfly obviously is the highlight which is my main event and I was obviously hoping to medal but fourth place is nothing to be ashamed of as it's fourth in the world."
Carter also credited his coach Dexter Brown for the work he has done since coming on board with the T&T swimmer last year saying, "Dexter has been phenomenal. He believes in me 100 percent and he is willing to let me have a say and that's all you can ask for from a coach.
"He has a great eye for technique and understands sprint training better than any coach in the world at present," stated Carter.
On Friday (June 24), from 3.14 am (T&T time), T&T’s other competitor in Hungary, Cherelle Thompson will line up in the women’s 50m freestyle heat seven of ten from lane six against Israel’s Daria Golovaty, Bermuda’s Maddy Moore, Philipines Jasmine Alkhaldi, Tapei’s Mei-Chien Huang, Bulgarian Diana Petkova, Switzerland’s Sasha Touretski, Hong Kong’s Camille Lily Mei Cheng, Bolivia’s Karen Torrez Gusman and Latvian Gabriela Nikitina with the semifinals carded for 12.17 pm, and the final, Saturday from 12.47 pm.
