T&T swimmer Dylan Carter of Azura Florida Aquatics club secured a bronze medal in the men’s 50m butterfly event when the 2026 Speedo Fort Lauderdale Open in the USA, formerly a stop on USA Swimming’s Pro Swim Series, continued at the Fort Lauderdale Aquatic Center on Friday night.
The men’s 50m butterfly winner was Ilya Kharun in 22.96 seconds, a two-hundredth drop from the 22.98 he swam at the US Open in December, and it’s also moved him up to sit in a three-way tie for third in the world this season with Russia’s Oleg Kostin and Switzerland’s Noe Ponti.
The USA’s Caeleb Dressel finished 2nd in 23.48, just off his season best of 23.29 from the January Pro Swim Series stop in Austin, with Carter third in 23.54, five hundredths off his preliminary swim of 23.49.
The other finishers were Shaine Casas (23.65), Ralf Tribuntsov (23.67), Josh Liendo (23.73), Albert Smelzer (23.91) and Daniel Zaitsev (23.97).
In the morning heats, 30-year-old Carter was the second fastest with his 23.49 clocking, with Kharun the fastest in 23.06, Liendo in the third spot in 23.50, Tribuntsov fourth in 23.72, followed by Zaitsev (23.81), Smelzer (24.06), Casas (24.13), and Dressel, also in 24.13.
Also on Friday morning, T&T’s Zuri Ferguson of the University of Florida was 18th in the women’s 200m backstroke heats in two minutes, 19.44 seconds, and qualified for the C-final, which she opted out of.
On Thursday’ second day of competition, Carter, Liam Carrington and Ferguson were all in action with mixed fortunes.
In the men’s 100m freestyle A-final, Carter ended in the fourth spot in 48.87 seconds to trail Chris Guiliano, who won in 48.43, as well as Tomas Navikonis (48.69) and Patrick Sammon, who was third in 48.76.
This was after Carter clocked 49.07 in the morning heats for the fourth fastest as well, while Carrington, who placed sixth in the B-final in 50.21 seconds, had a morning preliminary heats time of 50.77 to be the 14th fastest.
The 17-year-old Carrington, who attends Bolles High School in Florida, was sixth in the men’s 50m backstroke A-final in 26.22 seconds, two spots up from the morning heats when he touched the wall in 26.19.
A former multi-Carifta Aquatics gold medal winner for T&T and a participant at the Paris Olympic Games, Ferguson was a sixth-place finisher in the women’s 50m backstroke B-final in 29.91 seconds after a morning prelims time of 29.58, the 13th best.
Last night, Carter went after silverware in the men’s 100m butterfly and 50m freestyle A-finals while Carrington chased precious metal in the men’s 100m backstroke A-finals, respectively, and also contested the 50m freestyle B-final.
In the men’s 100m butterfly, Carter was second in the fifth of six heats in 53.16 seconds, to finish behind three-time NCAA champion Josh Liendo, who won in 51.56, while Hutch Paxton was in third in 54.88 as the trio qualified.
Khuran was the top qualifier to the 100m butterfly A-final after he won heat four in 51.48 with Patrick Sammon, second home in 53.24, and Arthur Balva (54.60), third, while in heat six, Caleb Dressel (52.38) and Shaine Casas (52.50) were the two swimmers to book their places in the gold medal splash.
Carrington, who has already committed to North Carolina State University, had earlier qualified as the fourth fastest overall from the morning heats in the 100m backstroke.
This was after Carrington was second in the fifth of six heats in 56.35 seconds swimming from lane six, trailing Jack Aikins, who won in 54.95 for the second-best time overall, while Gavin Schinkelshoek (57.20) and Ethan Bathala (56.50) were third and fourth in the heat and qualified for the A-Final with the sixth and eighth fastest times.
The T&T trio are using the meet as part of their preparations towards the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, from July 24 to August 8.
