USA-based T&T swimmer Dylan Carter will continue his count-down to the Tokyo Olympic when he competes in three events at the 2021 third and final leg of the Mare Nostrum Tour on Saturday and Sunday.
A Commonwealth Games medallist, the first for T&T in swimming, Carter will compete in the two-day Long Course Meet, the Trofeu International Ciutat de Barcelona, the 42nd edition at CN Sant Andreu, Rambla Fabra I Puig.
On Saturday, the 25-year-old Carter competes in the 100m backstroke, the second of three heats from lane four against Andres Hernandez Garcia, Alejandro Rueda Narvaez, Diego Camacho Salgado, Portugal’s Jose Gabriel Lopes, Ognjen Maric of Croatia and Austrian Leon Opatril.
A multiple NCAA Swimming champion with the University of Southern California Trojans Carter will then swim the first of three heats in the 50m backstroke on Sunday also from lane four with Eloy Burillo Benitez, Melker Olsson, Narvaez, Adrian Santos Martin, Carlos Munoz Renteria and Diego Muriel Lopez.
And in his final event, the 100m freestyle. Carter lines up in heat five of seven alongside Sweden’s Bjoern Seeliger, Cristian Daniel Quintero,
Jorge Andres Iga Cesar, Daniel Zaitsev, Markus Lie of Norway, and Egyptian Youssef Tarek Ramadan.
Earlier this week Carter had to settle for the sixth spot in the men’s 100 metres freestyle A-final on the second and final day of the second stop of the 2021 Mare Nostrum Long Course Meet at the Centre de Natation Arlette Franco, Canet-en-Roussillon, France.
This after he got to the wall in 49.76 seconds, ahead of only Mehdy Metella and Osama Sahnoune who clocked 50.07 and 51.03 for seventh and eighth position respectively.
Host swimmer Maxime Grousset was a comfortable winner in 48.57, well clear of Cristian Quintero who was second in 49.41, and Sergio de Celis, who took bronze in 49.52.
Clement Cute in 49.64 and Cesar Castro Valle, in 49.70 were the others to finish ahead of Carter.
In the morning heats, Carter ended in the third spot in heat of three of five to qualify for the final as the seventh fastest overall.
Going into the heats, Carter and the rest of the field were given a boost towards their chances of reaching the A-final after South African Chad Le Clos and Brazil’s Bruno Fratus, co-winner of the 50m freestyle on Tuesday, as well as Croatian Nikola Miljenic scratched the 100m freestyle heats.
Spain’s Quintero took full advantage of their absence and was the top qualifier at 49.21 seconds, well ahead of Grousset who touched in 49.54 while the pair of Cute and de Celis, who won Carter’s heat tied for third in 49.71.
On Tuesday, Carter placed fourth in the men’s 100m butterfly A-final in 53.43 seconds to finish behind Le Clos’ 52.29, Metella’s 52.64 and Miljenic’s 53.22.
In the morning heats, Le Clos was third in the 100 butterfly in 53.72 behind Mehdy (52.88) and Carter (53.03).
On Saturday last, at the opening Mare Nostrum Swim Meet at the Prince Albert II Swimming Pool in Monaco, Carter raced to the wall in the 100m freestyle A-final in 49.98 for the third spot behind French duo Grousset (48.28) and Charles Rihoux (49.44) while another Frenchman, Clement Mignon was fourth in 50.07.
In the heats, Carter was fourth fastest in 49.79 to trail Grousset (49.04), Mignon (49.29), and Rihoux (49.36).
However, on Sunday, in the 100m butterfly Carter ended in the tenth position in 54.87.