Trinidad and Tobago swimmer Dylan Carter narrowly missed a medal in the men’s 100-metre freestyle at the third and final leg of the 2026 World Aquatics Swimming World Cup in Astana, Kazakhstan. Carter finished fourth in 46.74 seconds, just two-hundredths of a second behind the bronze-medal time of 46.72 seconds.
The opening-day final at Barys Arena saw the Netherlands’ Sean Niewold take bronze, while Australia’s Cameron McEvoy won gold in 45.11 seconds and Russia’s Egor Kornev claimed silver in 45.23. Carter’s time placed him ahead of Russia’s Ivan Girev, who finished in 46.76 seconds.
Carter advanced to the evening final after competing in the morning preliminary heats. His 46.74-second finish was his fastest 100-metre freestyle performance of the three-stop World Cup series so far, according to the report.
The result also improved on his performance at the first leg in Baku, Azerbaijan, where he recorded 46.95 seconds to finish joint fifth in the 100-metre freestyle. At that meet, held from October 1 to 3, he had clocked 47.61 seconds in the heats before swimming faster in the final. Carter also earned bronze in the men’s 100-metre butterfly in Baku with a time of 50.74 seconds and finished fifth in the 50-metre freestyle in 21.25 seconds.
His second stop in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, from October 8 to 10, proved more challenging in the freestyle events. Carter finished tenth in the 100-metre freestyle after recording 47.56 seconds in the heats and 47.76 seconds in the final. He also placed eighth in the 100-metre butterfly in 51.14 seconds and tenth in the 50-metre freestyle in 21.70 seconds.
Against that background, the Astana performance represented a substantial improvement in his 100-metre freestyle final time. His 46.74 seconds was 1.02 seconds faster than his 47.76-second final in Tashkent and 0.21 seconds quicker than his Baku final time of 46.95 seconds.
Although the narrow margin denied him another medal in the event, Carter remained within reach of the leading swimmers in a tightly contested final. His fourth-place finish was separated from bronze by only two-hundredths of a second, illustrating how small the difference was between a podium result and fourth place.
The Astana meet was scheduled to continue through the following day, giving Carter further opportunities to compete before the series concluded. He was listed to contest the men’s 50-metre freestyle next, followed by the 50-metre butterfly on the final day. Those events represented his remaining opportunities at the Kazakhstan stop after the near-podium finish in the 100-metre freestyle.
