T&T swimmer George Bovell had to settle for a third silver in a row and eighth medal from as many starts in the men's 100 metre individual medley final yesterday in the eighth and final leg of the FINA World Cup Short Course (25m) Swimming Circuit at the National Aquatic Centre, Beijing, China.
The 30-year-old entered the final as the eighth fastest qualifier but in the final he went some 4.02 seconds faster to touch the wall in 51.72 seconds, swimming from lane eight for second, just shy of the 51.69 he clocked last year for silver as well.
The silver was his fifth of the season and carried his total to 13 medals (one gold, five silver, seven bronze) so far this season to add to his 16 medals won last year (nine gold and seven silver) for a two-year haul of 29 from 31 finals.
Russian Vladimir Morozov won for yet another time in 50.97 seconds, just off the World Championship record of 50.95 set by his countryman Sergey Fesikov in Berlin, Germany in 2009 while South Africa's Chad Le Clos took bronze in 52.14.
The others in the final were Brazilian Henrique Rodrigues (53.87), Yun Hao (54.08), Japan's Yuki Shirai (55.02), Hungarian David Foldhazi (55.33) and China's Feilian Mao (56.28).
In the morning heats, Bovell was third in heat two of three in a slow 55.74, behind heat winner Mao (55.01) and Shirai (55.45), respectively.
The trio of Jiajia Xue (55.63), USA's Alexander Katz (58.70) and Xiangzhe Li (1:00.46) also competed in the heat and filled positions fourth to sixth while Qiong Duan did not start.
Morozov, who now has six wins in the event, was the top qualifier after he won heat three in 52.85 ahead of Rodrigues (54.48) and Foldhazi (55.47) while Le Clos (54.47) Yun Hao (54.59) were the top two in heat two for the second and fourth fastest times in the heats.
Bovell also competed in the 50m breaststroke yesterday and failed to get to the gold medal splash after he was third in the second of three heats in 27.81 for ninth, well adrift of winner, Germany's Hendrik Feldwehr (27.08) and Brazilian Joao Junior Gomes (23.12), who qualified fourth and fifth overall.
Australian Christian Sprenger qualified as the fastest for the final after he topped heat one in 26.78 ahead of Shuai Wang (27.41) and Hungary's Daniel Gyurta (27.46) while South African Roland Schoeman (26.93), Brazil's Felipe Lima (26.98) and Raphael Rodrigues (27.49) qualified from heat three.
However, in the final, Schoeman took gold in 25.95 ahead of Sprenger (26.59) and Gomes (26.65).
Today, Bovell will attempt to defend his 50m freestyle title he won in 20.98 ahead of USA's Anthony Ervin (21.19) and Australian Cameron Mc Evoy (21.46) last year.
A 200m IM Olympic bronze medal winner in 2000 will compete in the men's 50m freestyle fifth of six heats with Americans, Francis Haas and Paul Powers, Japan's Kenta Hirai, Holland's Joost Reyns, Australian Tommaso D'Orsogna, Konrad Czerniak of Poland and Chinese Taipei's Chung-Feng Wu.
The quintet of Holland's Sebastien Verschuren and Jasper Van Mierlo, Brazil's Andre Santos, Morozov and Schoeman are in heat six while Ervin, and Brazilians Fernando Silva and Nicholas Santos are in heat four.