T&T swimmer George Bovell splashed off his 2013 season by defending his title in the TYR Jax50 freestyle with victory over USA's London Olympic Games silver medallist, Cullen Jones in the head-to-head final at the Bolles School Vible Pool, San Jose Boulevard, Jacksonville, Florida on Saturday night.
Twenty-nine-year-old Bovell touched the wall in 19.20 seconds, just shy of his meet record 19.6 mark, to beat the American 2008 Olympic gold medallist, who clocked 19.45 seconds.
Bovell, who was seeded third of the eight swimmers, won his quarterfinal heat against Caleb Dressel with a time of 20.01 to his opponent's 20.30, while top seeded Jones (20.04) defeated Ryan Murphy (20.40).
In the two other quarterfinal heats, 2012 gold and silver Olympic Games medalist USA's Ricky Berens (19.77) was upstaged by fifth seeded Pavel Babaev (19.71) while third ranked USA's Josh Schneider (19.73) overcame fellow American, John Long (20.40).
Bovell who collected US$2,500 for his win, advanced to the final when he improved on his first round time by clocking 19.55 in his semifinal victory over Schneider while Jones (19.64) topped Babaev (19.71). In the losers semifinals, Berens (19.88) defeated Murphy (20.47), while Dressel (20.44) outswam Long (20.65).
Schneider took third in 19.71, ahead of Babaev (19.95). Berens (19.40) powered past Dressel (20.31) for fifth, and Murphy (20.29) got the better of Long (20.83) for seventh.
Bovell, writing on twitter after his win said: "The season is off to a great start. Defended my title and almost clinched my old record. Just started back and it's the season's first race."
Bovell is expected to head to Uganda tomorrow to help in the fight against Malaria before returning to competition. Last year, Bovell had by far his most productive season when he captured 16 medals (seven gold and nine silver) on the eight-stop FINA/Arena Swimming World Championships Circuit.
Among his 16 medals were new national records in the 50m freestyle (20.82 in Stockholm, Sweden) on October 14 and in the 100m IM (51.20) in Berlin, Germany, six days later.
He was also seventh in the men's 50m freestyle final at the London Olympics, and improved to fourth in the December 14, 2012 event final in the 11th FINA World Short Course Championships in Istanbul, Turkey. He earned a first ever bronze medal in the 100 metres Individual Medley, four days later to become the first T&T world championship swim medalist, adding to his Athens Olympics 200m IM bronze.