Dylan Carter Completes Sprint Trifecta En Route to Overall World Cup Crown

2022 FINA WORLD CUP – INDIANAPOLIS

• Thursday, November 3 – Saturday, November 5, 2022
• Indiana University Natatorium, Indianapolis, IN
• SCM (25 meters)
• Meet Central
• Psych Sheet
• Live Results (Omega)
• Live Stream
• Day 3 Finals Live Recap

Dylan Carter completed his sprint trifecta with his third Triple Crown — and ninth gold medal in nine races at this year’s World Cup series — in the 50 butterfly on Saturday night in Indianapolis. 

Carter clocked a time of 21.99, just .01 seconds off his personal best from the 2021 Short Course World Championships last December. The 26-year-old from Trinidad and Tobago reached the wall just .14 seconds behind the world record set shared by Brazil’s Nicholas Santos and Hungary’s Szebasztian Szabo. 

MEN’S 50 BUTTERFLY – FINALS

• World Record: 21.75, Nicholas Santos (BRA), 2018/Szebasztian Szabo (HUN), 2021
• World Jr Record: 22.34, Andrei Minakov (RUS), 2020
• World Cup Record: 21.75, Nicholas Santos (BRA), 2018
• US Open Record: 22.06, Caeleb Dressel (USA), 2019

PODIUM:

1. Dylan Carter (TTO) – 21.99 US Open
2. Chad Le Clos (RSA) – 22.77
3. Marius Kusch (GER) – 22.46

Carter’s swim marked a new U.S. Open record, taking down the previous mark of 22.06 posted by Caeleb Dressel in 2019. In the process, he earned 19.6 points to up his total to 172.6, which beat out Nic Fink (172.3) and South African Chad le Clos (166.3) for the overall crown. Along with bragging rights, Carter took home $142,000 from the Indianapolis stop alone from his three Triple Crowns, $12,000 meet title, and $100,000 overall crown.

“I am so happy — I am over the moon,” Carter said. “The pressure really started to mount this weekend, but I really felt like I could do it. I think it is massive for Trinidad and Tobago. The Olympics and World Championships is about who is best on that day, but the World Cup is about who is better for an extended period of time. It is really a phenomenal feat of not just fast swimming, but endurance. It is a big step for our sport in the Caribbean.”

FINA World Cup Men’s Final Top 10

1. Dylan Carter, Trinidad and Tobago, 172.6
2. Nic Fink, USA, 172.3
3. Chad le Clos, South Africa, 166.3
4. Shaine Casas, USA, 164.9
5. Matthew Sates, South Africa, 154.1
6. Kyle Chalmers, Australia, 152.1
7. Thomas Ceccon, Italy, 144.8
8. Danas Rapsys, Lithuania, 137.1
9. Kieran Smith, USA, 134.1
10. Javier Acevedo, Canada, 133.9

“It was a goal, but I can’t say I was expecting it,” Carter said of his perfect 9-for-9 run. “But I mean, I had a really good meet run, so I’m really, really proud of that.”

“These are some of my best friends, Chad and Marius here,” he added of the silver and bronze medalists. “Marius and I lived together prior to the Tokyo Olympics, so we’re really, really close. It’s so fun racing these guys every night.”

Carter’s performance is the fastest in the world this year ahead of the 22.21 posted by le Clos at the first stop of the World Cup in Berlin. 

“It is a massive step for me. I have always felt like I have had massive potential, but there was always something missing,” Carter said. “I came home after this summer and went to my local gym. The amount of people who asked me if I was going to retire — I swam good times but people thought I was done, that I was never going to break through. That really drove me and that is part of the results you see here.”

Carter called his recent run of dominance in the 50s his “second career” after previously specializing in longer-distance events. 

“I have always swam up to 200, but I always wanted to have a bit of a second career, which is the 50s,” he said. “I always had a good 50 fly. It was always good for a 200 guy. I wanted to put it together and see what I could do. Training in Trinidad, I am training on my own a lot. It’s fun. It is a lot more fun than training for the 200. Swimming in a way that is sustainable and when you are happy, that is when you can see your career in front of you.”