Two-time T&T Olympic swimmer, Dylan Carter says he is very proud of his London Roar team’s performance during the just-concluded third season of the International Swimming League (ISL) in Holland on Saturday.
Competing in the four-team final at the Pieter Van Den Hoogenband Stadium, Eindhoven, the 25-year-old Carter, a former University of Southern California standout and the London Roar and his London Roar teammates ended in the third spot of the four teams overall with 393.5 points, to finish ahead of his former team, LA Current which placed fourth with 305.5. Carter was a fourth-place finisher with the LA Current team in 2019 and 2020.
Energy Standard, the inaugural league champions in 2019 reclaimed the title from Cali Condors with 534 points, 12 more than Cali Condors after taking a 21 points lead into the final day, 271 to 250.
On Saturday, the final day of competition of the two-day meet, Carter earned bronze medals in both the men’s 100m freestyle and 50m butterfly final to take his overall season tally to 23 medals, which included seven gold, eight silver and eight bronze.
His medal hauls at the end of the ten-match day preliminary rounds in October in Naples, Italy stood at nine, inclusive of four gold, three silver and two bronze before he added 14 medals in the three semifinal match day playoff swims, three gold, five silver and six bronze.
Speaking after the series, Carter, a Commonwealth Games silver medallist for T&T in 2018, and the winner of six 4x100m freestyle relay gold medals during the ISL season said, “I'm pretty proud of the team performance from yesterday, all of us have had a really long season."
He said, "Olympics is pretty much the start for us and we did Olympics Tokyo and then we did an ISL Naples and then ISL Eindhoven, so it's a lot of racing. I think it’s more racing than I've ever done in my life in a space of three months, four months, so I'm really proud of the team for being able to stick it out and to run through the tough schedule and get the job done."
In comparing the ISL to other events, Carter revealed that the ISL is a completely different format of swimming where you are racing so many races in a two-hour span or sometimes less kind of time frame. So it really requires a lot of toughness and endurance, both physically and mentally, and I think that it was a great fun season.
Despite only joining the London Roar team, boasting a majority of swimmers from Commonwealth countries this year after two previous years with USA-based LA Current, Carter said it was sad to see to the season end.
He said, “I'm really sad to see the team split up and we all go our separate ways now, but we will see some of our teammates again and World Short Course representing our own individual nations. So sad about the team splitting up, but I'm looking forward to World Short Course and right now I just need a couple of days of good rest and relaxation which I think will really help my performance because I'm definitely feeling it in my body and my mind, all the racing that I've been doing lately."
Responding to his progress made over the course of the year, he said he was pretty much pleased with how things have gone so far.
“Personally, I know I've put a lot of work into it and it doesn't always show you know as my Olympics was pretty lacklustre as I was in probably a period of lacking form, and lacking confidence in myself and my swimming, and probably in a rough patch in terms of coaching, but now I feel much more confident and happier. I'm training locally with Dexter Brown and I think he's been really, really good for me. He believes in me and is fully invested in me as an athlete, so I think that’s helped a lot. But in general, I'm really proud of my performance thus far this year, and I'm hoping to cap it off well at World Short Course and I think I could have a real belter out there, " he explained.
Next up for Carter will be the 15th FINA World Short Course (25m) Championship in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates from December 16 -22 where he will attempt to add to his bronze medal won in 2018 in the 50m butterfly in Hangzhou, China.
Asked if the pressure of following in the footsteps of former top T&T swimmer and Olympic and two-time World Championship medal winner George Bovell III weighs heavily on his shoulders, Carter, a five-time Central American and Caribbean Games medallist said he doesn’t think so.
“I don't feel much expectation on myself in terms of following up on George (Bovell). I think that George (Bovell), you know, he's a legend, but I think that anybody who knows sport knows that each athlete is unique. And, you know, we're not just numbers or we're not just, you know, the next George or trying to try to do something that someone else did, you know, we were all unique and we all have different strengths and weaknesses and personalities and I think that I'm just trying to do this thing my own way and find my own path and just trying to be as best as I can be, whether I can achieve what George is done knowingly or not,” ended Carter.
The Irvine-California born Carter who leaves for Dubai on Wednesday before driving over to Abu Dhabi on December 13th said he expects to focus on the 50m butterfly, 100m butterfly and 100m freestyle in Abu Dhabi.
Dylan Carter's medals won in 2021 ISL
Gold:
4 x 100 metres freestyle relay - 3:06.50 minutes.
50m butterfly - 22.40 seconds
4 x 100m freestyle relay - 3:05.84 mins.
4 x 100m freestyle relay - 3:05.05 mins.
4 x 100m freestyle relay – 3:05.43 mins
4x 100m freestyle relay - 3:04.55 mins
4x 100m freestyle relay – 3:04.47 mins
Silver:
4 x 100m freestyle relay quartet - 3:07.62. mins
4 x 100m medley relay - 3:22.93 mins
50m butterfly - 22.42 secs
50m freestyle – 21.14 secc
50m butterfly – 22.52 secs
4 x 100m medley relay – 3:23.23 mins
100m freestyle – 46.47 secs
4 x 100m freestyle - 3:04.84 mins
Bronze:
50m butterfly - 22.36 secs (national record)
50m butterfly - 22.62 secs
100m freestyle – 46.64 secs
4 x 100m mixed medley relay – 3:36.13 mins
50m butterfly – 22.27 secs
4 x 100m mixed medley relay – 3:37.17
100m freestyle – 46.45 mins
50m butterfly – 22.36 secs
