T&T’s Cherelle Thompson placed 26th overall from a field of 82 swimmers when she ended in the fourth spot in heat seven of ten in the women's 50 metres freestyle at the FINA World Long Course Championships at the Duna Arena in Budapest, Hungary on Friday.
The 30-year-old, swimming in lane six, touched the wall in 26.01 seconds shy of her best of 25.39, to finish behind Switzerland’s Sasha Touretski who won in 25.68 to be ranked 21st, while Israel’s Daria Golovaty and Bulgarian Diana Petkova were joint second in 25.97 for joint 24th spot.
The other finishers in the heat were Bermuda’s Maddy Moore in the fifth spot in 26.04, Tapei’s Mei-Chien Huang (26.12), Philipines Jasmine Alkhaldi (26.20), Hong Kong’s Camille Lily Mei Cheng (26.20), Latvian Gabriela Nikitina (26.25), and Bolivia’s Karen Torrez Gusman in 26.46.
The top finisher in each circle seeded heat of the women’s 50m freestyle were the top three seeds overall in this event led by World record holder and top seed Sarah Sjostrom of Sweden who had the fastest time overall out of heat ten of 24.40, although heat eight winner, Poland's Kasia Wasick's time of 24.45 was just 0.05 seconds slower with USA's Meg Harris, the winner of heat nine, clocking 24.68 that stands as the third seed.
T&T's other swimmer Dylan Carter completed his assignments on Thursday with the men's 50m freestyle in a new personal best of 21.91, which he established in a swim-off with South Korean Yuchan Ji after both swimmers were joint winners of heat six.
Swimming from lane two in his heat, Carter touched the wall in 22.19 seconds, for the top spot the same as lane six swimmer Ji as both swimmers tied for 17th spot overall, one position off the 16th and final semifinal qualifier, Venezuelan Alberto Vivas Mestre, who clocked 22.12 for the seventh spot in heat nine of ten.
The pair of Carter and Ji were then involved in a swim as it related to the semifinal reserves with the former University of Southern California Trojans swimmer, Carter clocking 21.91 which would have been good enough for the eighth-fastest qualifying time in the heats, with Ji second to the wall in 22.03, a time which would have been good enough for 13th best in the heats.
On Tuesday, Carter lowered his personal best and national record for the second time on the day in the 100m freestyle, but it was still not enough to book a spot in his second final.
A University of Southern California Trojans graduate, Carter also broke his record from the 2019 World Championships (48.52), where he placed 12th by .12 seconds after he placed 16th in the heats in 48.77 to qualify for the semifinals.
And in his opening event of the Championship, the men's 50m butterfly, Carter just missed out on a first-ever Long Course Worlds medal when he placed fourth in the final on Sunday, in a new national record time of 22.85 seconds from lane seven, his third straight swim under the 23 seconds mark in two days which bettered his previous record swim of 22.87 which he established in topping the list of qualifiers in the heats on Saturday.
A silver medallist for T&T in the men’s 50m butterfly at the FINA World Short Course Championship last December in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, and bronze in the same event in China in 2018, Carter qualified as the sixth fastest overall for the gold medal swim after he placed third in the second semifinal in 22.98 seconds.
Earlier on Saturday morning in the heats, Carter picked the right time to have a great swim, getting under 23 seconds for the first time in his career in a then-new personal best and national record of 22.87, the first time a T&T national had gone under the 23 seconds mark in the event on his way to winning heat five with the fastest time of all swimmers.
The winner of this country’s first-ever Commonwealth Games swimming medal Carter’s previous lifetime best in the 50m butterfly was 23.11 which he did at the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games in 2018 and at the Aquatics Sports Association of T&T (ASATT) Pan American Aquatics Age-Group Trials held in Balmain, Couva and earlier this year.