Carter misses 50m final at World Aquatics Championship

Swimmer Dylan Carter missed his chance at the World Aquatics Championship at the Duna Arena in Budapest, Hungary, where he fell agonizingly short of a final spot in the men’s 50m butterfly event. 

Carter splashed to a season-best 22.18 seconds for the runner-up spot in heat nine. His reaction time of 0.64 was slower than the Netherlands’ Nyls Korstanje, who sprinted to the win in 21.62 seconds. 

Carter was one of five swimmers to advance to the semifinal round from the heat, which included Netherlands’ Nyls Korstanje, Trinidad and Tobago’s Dylan Carter, America’s Dare Rose, who won third place in 22.26 seconds, along with Michele Busa of Italy, and Great Britain’s Jacob Peters, both of whom clocked 22.28 and 22.35 for fourth and fifth positions, respectively. 

Later, Carter went faster in the first semifinal race but needed to be quicker on the day to be one of the top nine finishers in the final. 

Carter stopped the clock at 22.16 seconds for a fourth-place finish, following a reaction time of 0.64.  

Korstanje claimed the top spot for the first qualifying place in 21.81, with Tzen Wei Teong of Singapore and Busa securing the second and third positions in 22.04 and 22.08 seconds, respectively.

With Carter out, the lineup for the final comprised Busa in lane one, Teong (lane 2), Ilya Kharun (lane 3), Switzerland’s Noe Ponti (lane 4), Korstanje (lane 5), Germany’s Marius Kusch (lane 6), Grigori Pekarski (lane 7), and Hungary’s Szebasztian Szabo in lane 8. 

Meanwhile, T&T’s Zuri Ferguson returned to the pool for the women’s 200m backstroke preliminary round.

Ferguson has already set four national records at the meet, having clocked 27.83s in the 50m backstroke, the first T&T female to dip below the 28-second barrier on Dec. 12, and then exceeding in the women’s 100m backstroke record by clocking one minute, 00.12 seconds (1:00.12) previously.

Additionally, T&T’s Nikoli Blackman will vie for a spot in the men’s 200m freestyle final when he lines up in lane five of heat seven.