Dylan Carter swims to Paris Olympics 2024

Dylan Carter became the first Trinidad and Tobago athlete to qualify for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France when he splashed to gold in the men’s 100m freestyle event at the 2023 TYR Pro Swim Series in Ft Lauderdale, USA on Thursday.

Carter, 27, touched the wall in a new national record time of 48.24 seconds, erasing his own previous record.

In the process, he dipped below Olympic A qualifying standard of 48.34s for this event.

He beat to the line England’s Matthew Richards (48.48s), who was the top seed out of the prelims in his second-fastest time ever of 48.41s. Battling to bronze was American Hunter Armstrong in 48.95s.

Rounding off the top five finishers were Kali Winkler (49.11s) and Victor Guimares Alcara (49.14s), respectively.

On Saturday, the two-time Olympian, who will make his third appearance in Paris, placed fifth in the men’s 50m free. He stopped the clock on 22.27s finishing behind fourth-placed Miguel Duarte (22.24s) and third-placed Ryan Held (22.19s).

Winning gold was Alberto Mestre in 22.04s and Michael Andrew took silver in 22.06s.

Carter’s Paris qualification comes on the heels of him winning gold in the 100m free, silver in the 50m free and bronze in the 50m butterfly at the 2023 Jalisco International Swimming Cup in Mexico last weekend.

In November, he completed his 2022 FINA Swimming World Cup series as the top male individual athlete after winning triple gold in the 50m backstroke, freestyle and butterfly at each stage of the three-leg series, which started in Germany, continued in Canada, and climaxed in Indianapolis, USA.

There, the TT swimmer rewrote three national short course records: 50m free, 100m free and 50m back – and set new personal best times.

His golden display over the three legs saw him top the overall World Cup rankings with 172.6 points and earn the coveted US$100,000 jackpot.

Then in December, he splashed to bronze in the 50-metre freestyle at the 16th FINA World Short Course Swimming Championships at Melbourne, Australia.