Two-time T&T Olympic swimmer, Dylan Carter secured his first gold medal, and third medal overall as part of the London Roar when they won the men’s 4x100 metres freestyle relay on the opening day of the International Swimming League (ISL) Match Day Six on Saturday.
Boosted by the return of Australian Kyle Chalmers who swam the opening leg, the Roar quartet which also featured Katsumi Nakamura, Carter and Edward Mildred combined for the gold-winning time of three minutes, 05.05 seconds for 30 points at the Felice Scandone Swimming Pool, Napoli, Italy.
A distant second was Tokyo Frog Kings (3:07.34 minutes), while Aqua Centurions (3:07.48 mins) took the third spot.
From the onset the Roar took command of the race with Chalmers, competing in his first matchday swimming the first leg of 45.69 seconds, the best of all legs, and second-fastest time of the season followed by Nakamura (46.31), Carter with the third fastest leg of all swimmers 46.04 and Mildred (47.01) who all maintained their lead ahead of the chasing pack.
And in the final event, Carter again swam the third leg behind Luke Greenbank and Ross Murdoch with Nakamura on the anchor leg in the men’s 4x100 medley for a fifth-place finish in 3:25.37 minutes.
American Olympic standout Caeleb Dressel along with Coleman Stewart, Nic Fink and Justin Ress powered reigning champions Cali Condors to gold in 3:21.29, ahead of Roar’s ‘A’ team who clocked 3:22.29, and Frog Kings’ (3:22.63) while Aqua Centurions ended fourth in 3:23.78.
It was a productive day for the Roar in general as they ended at the top of the table with 277 points, just ahead of Condors (263.5) while Frog Kings (187) and Aqua Centurions (181.5) complete the table ahead of Sunday’s second and final day.
When the ISL swam off earlier this month, Carter and his new Roar teammates opened their campaign o in Match Day Three, with the California-based T&T swimmer picking up a silver and bronze medal.
On the final day of Match Day Three on September 3, the 25-year-old Carter got bronze in the 50m butterfly in 22.62 seconds to trail 41-year-old Brazilian Nicholas Santos of Iron who won in 22.18, and Energy Standard’s Ben Proud (22.43).
A day earlier, Carter swam the joint-fastest leg of 46.37 in picking up a silver medal as part of the 4 x 100m freestyle relay quartet alongside Nakamura, Zac Incerti and Duncan Scott who clocked a combined time of 3:07.62 seconds for 14 team points.
The NY Breakers won in 3:07.02 minutes while Energy Standard finished third in 3:07.63.
In his first competitive event since representing T&T at the Tokyo Olympic Games, Carter ended fourth in the men’s 50m freestyle in 21.61 seconds, just ahead of club-mate Kenzo Simons, who touched in 21.49.
Proud took gold in 20.86 followed by the Iron’s duo of Marco Orsi (21.26), and Thom De Boer (21.32).
A Commonwealth Games medal winner for T&T Carter also competed in the 50m butterfly skins but was sixth in 22.75.
Last year, Carter and the LA Current teammates finished in the fourth spot in the same position they occupied in 2019, with 298 points.
Led by Dressel, Condors won the 2020 ISL Grand Final with 561.5 points, topping 2019 champion Energy Standard (464.5) by 97 while London Roar was third with 391.
The finals of the third edition are carded for January 2022 at a venue yet to be determined.