T&T’s Dylan Carter will skip the highly rated FINA Swimming World Cup Series slated for next month in Europe ahead of his participation with the London Roar in the 2021 International Swimming League (ISL) playoffs in Eindhoven, Holland in November.
The four-stage World Cup comes off on October 1-3 (Stage 1) – Berlin, Germany; October 7-9 (Stage 1) – Budapest, Hungary; October 21-23 (Stage 2) – Doha, Qatar, and October 28-30 (Stage 2) – Kazan, Russia.
However, the T&T swimmer only completed the preliminary round of the third edition of the ISL on Friday last with new club London Roar and having securing nine medals, inclusive of four gold, three silver and two bronze is now set for a well-deserved rest before returning to competition in November.
On Friday last, competing in Match Day Nine at 25 metres Felice Scandone Swimming Pool, in Naples, Italy, Carter won bronze in the men’s 50metres butterfly in a new national record time of 22.36 seconds, behind winner Ben Proud of Energy Standard (22.26) and Toronto Titans’ Marius Kusch (22.32).
A two-time Olympian and T&T’s first-ever Commonwealth Games swimming medal winner, Carter’s time bettered his previous national best of 22.38 established when he won bronze at the 2018 FINA World Short Course Swimming Championship in Hangzhou, China behind Brazilians Nicholas Santos (21.81) and South Africa Chad Le Clos (21.97).
A standout at the University of Southern California the 25-year-old Carter also swam the fastest leg of all swimmers in helping London Roar to a third straight gold medal and his fourth overall in the men’s 4x100 metres freestyle relay.
Speaking on Saturday after his team had cemented its playoff spot Carter reflecting on his national record swim in the butterfly said, “Obviously I’m very happy with the personal best even though it's only by .02 hundredths, it’s a national record as well so I’m happy with it.
“I was hoping to win one last event, but the race was very fast tonight (Friday) and I had to settle for third.
“But it was a fast time in a fast field and I had a lot of fun over the four weeks of racing and I’m now looking forward to a couple of weeks of rest now and then we get back going in November.
“The FINA World Cup is next month but for me, from now until the playoffs in November I will not be doing any meets, stated Carter.
He added, "Right now I have just landed back in Miami from Italy and I will be heading down to Trinidad in the next couple of days. And while at home I will just be doing a bit of training and staying sharp and working on a couple of things between now and Eindhoven and hopefully I will be quicker when I get to the Netherlands"
The Roar quartet of Australian Olympian Kyle Chalmers (46.18 seconds), Carter (46.02), Japan’s Katsumi Nakamura (46.69) and England’s Edward Mildred (47.60) won in three minutes, 06.50 with Toronto Titan second in 3:08.0, and Energy Standard third in 3:08.21.
Carter (46.05) also combined Brazilian Guilherme Guido (49.44), Ross Murdoch (57.63) and Chalmers (49.81) to take silver in the 4x100m medley relay in 3:22.93, to trail Energy Standard who won in 3:22.38, while DC Trident took bronze in 3:23.39.
Prior to his team’s final match, Carter swam to his first individual gold medal of the ISL when he won the men’s 50m butterfly in 22.40 seconds on Match Day Eight while he won gold in the 4x100m freestyle relay in 3:05.84.
On Match Day Six, Carter got silver in the men’s 50m butterfly in 22.42, to trail Aqua Centurions’ Szebasztian Szabo who won gold in 22.18 while Tokyo Frog Kings’ Takeshi Kawamoto and London Roar’s Vini Lanza tied for bronze in 22.68.
And he captured gold with the men’s 4x100m freestyle relay quartet in 3:05.05 minutes.
When the London Roar splashed off their ISL campaign in Match Day Three during the first week of September Carter won a silver and bronze medal.
He got bronze in the 50m butterfly in 22.62 and then had the joint-fastest leg of 46.37 in picking up silver as part of the 4x100m freestyle relay quartet who clocked 3:07.62.
Following the completion of Match Day Nine, Energy Standard moved to the top of the ten-team table with a maximum of 16 points from their allotted four Match Days as the lone undefeated team, one point ahead of defending champions Cali Condors while Carter and the London Roar finished with 13, one ahead of Toronto Titans (12) with LA Current, Carter’s former club fifth with 11 points from their allotted four meets and certain to be in Eindhoven for the six weeks of the eight-team main draw playoffs swims.
However, host club Aqua Centurions of Italy with six points, Team Iron (five), DC Trident (five), Tokyo Frog Kings (four) and New York Breakers, with three points, were locked in a battle to avoid being the bottom four finishers at the end of Match Day Ten who will contest the four-team play-in to the top eight playoffs.
The first playoff involving the seventh to tenth-placed teams will take place from September 29-30 in Naples from which the top two finishers will join the six top-ranked teams for six Match Days after which the top four will contest the semifinals at the Pieter Van Den Hoogenband Stadium, in Holland from November 11-18 and 25-28.
The finals of the third edition are carded for February 7-9, 2022 at a venue yet to be determined.
