Carter seventh in 50m backstroke final, smashes national record

NATIONAL Olympic swimmer Dylan Carter today placed seventh in the men's 50m backstroke final, one day after he smashed the national record in the same distance at the at the 14th FINA World Swimming Championships in Hangzhou, China.

Carter, 22, clocked 23.19 seconds in the semifinals, more than enough to erase his previous national record of 23.43 seconds, which he secured at the FINA World Cup in Tokyo last month.

Despite Carter's efforts, his time could not immediately see him advance to the final. He missed out by 0.01 seconds behind eighth-place finisher Christian Diener of Germany. That, however, changed when China's Xu Jaiyu withdrew and made room for Carter, the next best semi final finisher.

Carter eventually placed seventh in the final in 23.44 seconds, 0.05 seconds ahead of Diener. Russia's Evgeny Rylov won the race 22.58 seconds.