USA-based top T&T swimmer, Dylan Carter enjoyed another personal productive day at the International Swimming League at the Duna Arena in Budapest on Saturday when he continued his comeback to major competition with a sixth-placed finish in the 100 metres backstroke with the second-fastest time of his career of 51.28 seconds.
The winner of the event was World Champion and Carter's LA Current team-mate, Ryan Murphy, in 49.62 seconds just ahead of Coleman Stewart who touched in 50.12, and Evgeny Rylov who ended third in 50.39.
The other finishers were Radoslav Kawecki (50.42), and Matt Grevers (50.91) who were fourth and fifth respectively while Jakub Skierka (51.52), and Adam Telegdy (51.64) were seventh and eighth.
In this event, during the early years of the recognition of the world record in this format, mid-1990’s to the early 2000s the CCCAN region was a common fixture on the podium at the World Championships through the great efforts of the Cuban duo Rodolfo Falcon and Neisser Bent.
On December 28, 2018, what may have escaped many is that Carter in a Time Trial at National Aquatic Centre, Balmain, Couva rocketed to regional all-time greatness.
With Falcon’s Cuban standard of 52.44 as the unofficial CCCAN standard, the University of Southern California graduate Carter crushed that record when he blazed to a time of 50.58 seconds, a new T&T record, and unofficial CARIFTA and CCCAN region best.
With his swim, Carter still stands head and shoulders above the region as no one else but he has gone under 51 seconds or even 52 seconds in the event.
Also on Saturday, Carter completed his slate of events for the LA Current with a swim of 23.25 for seventh in the 50 metres butterfly, ahead of Stewart who ended in 23.48.
The race was won by the Cali Condors American record holder Caleb Dressel in a time of 22.46 with France's Florent Manaudou second in 22.73, and Tom Shields, third in 22.74.
South African Chad Le Clos (22.80), Joe Litchfield (22.90) and Michael Andrew (23.07) were the other finishers in the event.
Carter won the Bronze medal in this event at the 2018 World Championships in China with a swim of 22.38 and also holds the accolade of the only CARIFTA region or CCCAN federation swimmer to medal in this event at the global championships.
The only other swimmer under the 23 seconds marks is Cayman Islands star Brett Fraser with his best of 22.95.
The final team scores saw the Cali Condors winning with 567 points, followed by Energy Standard with 463 points. Dylan’s team LA Current placed third with 420 points and the New York Breakers with 266 points.
On the opening of the competition on Friday, Carter who was competing for the time since his last European outing in February when he competed at the Camille Muffat leg of French Golden Tour the Prince, set a new personal best in the 50m freestyle in the 25m pool.
After months of ocean swims and limited pool access Carter, a multiple Pan American Games, CARIFTA and CCCAN champion came to the Hungarian capital with a best time of 21.68 which he sat at the Tokyo leg of the FINA World Cup in November 2018.
But, after Friday's splash, his new sprint standard now stands at 21.51, en route to a seventh-place finish, a significant time drop in the fastest event of the short course metres format.
The top two places went to the two fastest men in the history of the race Manaudou representing Energy Standard 20.63 and American Dressel representing the Cali Condors 20.85 while Justin Ress was third in 21.08
Dressel lowered the world record in the event in the ISL last year with his blast of 20.24 and Manaudou held the previous global standard when he won the 2014 World Championship title in Doha in 20.26.
In the 50m backstroke, Carter and the Frenchman were given the same time of 23.90 but Carter was adjudged faster to place fourth overall.
The swim represents the fifth-fastest performance for Carter with his best time being 23.19 from the final of the 2018 World Short Course Swimming Championships. That time is the national standard for the twin-Island Republic. It is also the fastest time for the CARIFTA region and CCCAN federations.
It was also the first time that a Caribbean swimmer made the final of the World Championships since the Legendary Rodolfo Falcon won bronze at the 2000 edition in Athens Greece. Carter’s swim also represented the first time a swimmer from the English-speaking Caribbean made that World Championships final. The top of the podium went to Murphy in a time of 22.99.
Murphy holds the American record in the event with his 2018 silver medal-winning performance of 22.63 at the 2018 World Championships in Hangzhou, China. The World record in the event is held by the Frenchman Manauduo who lifted the 2014 World Title in a time of 22.22.