[UPDATED] Slow World Cup start for Dylan Carter

DEFENDING champion and two-time Olympian Dylan Carter finished eighth in the final of the 50m freestyle event at the FINA World Aquatics Swimming World Cup 2023 in Berlin, Germany, on the first day of competition on Friday.

Swimming in lane three, Carter, who copped a staggering nine gold medals at the 2022 World Cup, had an uncharacteristically slow start, and was the last swimmer to touch the wall, in a time of 23.79 seconds.

The final was won by Australia’s Isaac Cooper, 19,who clocked 21.93 seconds. US swimmer Michael Andrew finished second in 22.03 seconds. Dutch swimmer Stan Pijnenburg (22.04 seconds) finished third.

Earlier on Friday, Carter won heat eight ahead of Pijnenburg, in a time of 22.20 seconds.

But in the final, Carter was well off the pace from early, trailing the leader by a length by the time he emerged from the water. He finished well behind the seventh-placed swimmer Shioura Shinri (22.46 seconds).

In a post-race interview, Cooper said he did a lot of resistance work heading into the World Cup and was delighted to get a fast time.

Andrew, who won the men's 100m butterfly earlier Friday, was elated to be back on the podium.

"It's nice to be able to back it up," he said. "We haven't raced in a while so it feels good to know we can do two (races) relatively back-to back. So it's just to see if we can keep it rolling going into the next two days and then Athens and Budapest."

Pijnenburg said he was shocked to finish among the medals. He said, "I really loved it. It's a surprise for me as well to be on the podium, but I enjoyed it."

In the 2022 edition, Carter was the top male individual athlete after his triple-gold over the three legs of the World Cup in the 50m freestyle, 50m backstroke and 50m butterfly events.

Berlin is hosting the first leg of the 2023 World Cup from October 6-8. The second and third legs of the World Cup will be held in Greece (October 13-15) and Hungary (October 20-22) respectively. This World Cup is utilising 50m pools instead of 25m pools to give swimmers the opportunity to achieve qualifying times for the Paris 2024 Olympics. Carter was the first TT athlete to qualify for next year’s Olympics.

The 27-year-old Carter will return to the pool on Saturday morning (TT time) to contest the heats of the 50m backstroke and 100m freestyle events. Carter is also set to face the starter in the 50m butterfly event on Sunday.

This story was originally published with the title "Trinidad and Tobago swimmer Carter 8th in World Cup 50m final" and has been adjusted to include additional details. See original post below.

Defending champion Dylan Carter finished eighth in the final of the 50m freestyle event at the FINA World Aquatics Swimming World Cup 2023 in Berlin, Germany, on the first day of competition on Friday.

Swimming in lane three, Carter, who copped a staggering nine gold medals at the 2022 World Cup, was the last swimmer to touch the wall in Friday's final, in a time of 23.79 seconds.

The final was won by Australia's Isaac Cooper, who clocked 21.93 seconds. US swimmer Michael Andrew finished second in 22.03 seconds. Dutch swimmer Stan Pijnenburg (22.04 seconds) finished third.

Earlier on Friday, Carter won heat eight ahead of Pijnenburg, in a time of 22.20 seconds.

In the final, though, Carter was well off the pace in lane three, and also finished well behind the seventh-placed swimmer Shioura Shinri (22.46 seconds).