Carter bags fifth gold at FINA World Cup

JONATHAN RAMNANANSINGH

TRINIDAD AND Tobago swimmer Dylan Carter extended his flawless run of form at the second leg of the FINA Swimming World Cup in Toronto, Canada, on Saturday, when he splashed to men’s 50-metre backstroke gold in yet another national short course record.

Swimming out of lane seven at the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre, Carter had the third fastest reaction time (0.55s) but still commandeered the race to victory in 22.94 seconds.

He touched the wall ahead of Poland’s Kacper Stokowski, who clocked 23.01, and bronze medallist American Justin Ress (23.07).

Carter’s impressive time saw him wipe away his own national 50m short course backstroke record of 23.15, which was set during his golden performance at the first leg of the World Cup in Berlin, Germany, eight days ago.

In the heats, Carter placed third in heat three in 23.80 and was sixth fastest advancing finalist.

After the win, Carter was asked if he had his eyes set on the additional U$$10,000 jackpot which could be his if he wins the same event at the third and final World Cup leg in Indianapolis, USA, from Thursday.

He replied, “One step at a time. We still have the 50 fly (on Sunday) and 100m freestyle (on Saturday evening), so we’ll think about that in ‘Indi’. It’s been great fun, great crowd and great competitors, so it’s been really good.”

And in 100m freestyle final, which was contested just 30 minutes after he won the 50m backstroke, Carter still swam impressively but finished just outside the medals in fourth place.

He clocked 46.36 as rival Australian Kyle Chalmers (45.52) splashed to gold, Italian Thomas Ceccon (46.15) earned silver and American Brooks Curry (46.32) grabbed bronze.

In heat six, Carter was second in 47.37, and was the fifth fastest finalist.

On Friday night, the TT swimmer also swam to gold in the 50m freestyle. Swimming out of lane four, the 26-year old touched the wall in 20.91. He beat to the line Curry (21.07) and Chalmers (21.10), who were second and third respectively.

In the heats, Carter raced in heat six and topped the field in 20.91. He time was also fastest of the advancing finalists.

At last week’s first leg in Berlin, Carter’s won the 50m freestyle, 50m backstroke and the 50m butterfly. He also set a pair of national records in the 50m freestyle and 50m backstroke.