Dylan Carter bags three medals at Mare Nostrum swim tour

Ace Trinidad and Tobago swimmer Dylan Carter showed good form in the pool on the weekend, when he picked up three medals during the first leg of the Mare Nostrum swim tour in Canet-en-Roussillon, France.

On the first day of the meet on May 25, Carter raced to silver in his 50-metre freestyle pet event, before picking up two additional medals in the 50-metre butterfly and 100-metre freestyle events on May 26.

In the 50-metre freestyle final, Carter looked to be in contention for a gold-medal spot, but home favourite Maxime Grousset hit the wall first in a time of 21.92 seconds to take the top spot. Carter took second in 22.37 seconds, while Hong Kong’s Ian-Yentou Ho (22.38 seconds) was narrowly edged into the third spot.

In the men’s 100-metre freestyle, the 25-year-old Grousset showed off his prowess once again as he completed an impressive freestyle double. Grousset topped all swimmers in the preliminary round when he clocked 48.80 seconds. In the final, Grousset improved his time slightly as he won another battle with Carter when he finished in 48.71 seconds. Carter got his second silver medal of the tour as he hit the wall in 48.97 seconds.

Japan’s Katsuhiro Matsumoto grabbed third spot in 49.13 seconds. Carter’s appetite wasn’t limited to the freestyle events, and he also accomplished a podium finish in the 50-metre butterfly final when he grabbed third spot in 23.50 seconds.

After topping the preliminary round, Dutch swimmer Nyls Korstanje also grabbed top spot in the final as he clocked 23.22 seconds. Hungary’s Szebastian Szabo just held off Carter for second as he clocked 23.47 seconds. Carter also had a fight on his hands to get a spot on the podium, and he just edged out Dutch swimmer Thomas Verhoeven (23.52 seconds) to secure the bronze medal.

The second leg of the Mare Nostrum tour will be held at Club Natacio Sant Andreu in Barcelona, Spain from May 29-30, while the third and final leg will be held in Monaco from June 1-2.

Carter is currently fine-tuning his preparations ahead of the July 26-August 11 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.