2018 CAC Games: Dylan Carter Crushes 4th Fastest 50 Fly In The World

2018 CENTRAL AMERICAN & CARIBBEAN (CAC) GAMES

• Thursday, July 19th – Friday, August 3rd
• Barranquilla, Colombia
• Meet Site
• Entry Lists (men)
• Entry Lists (women)
• Day 1 Recap
• Day 2 Recap
• Live Results

29-year-old Alia Atkinson of Jamaica continued her stellar meet by taking the women’s 50m breaststroke in a wicked-fast time of 30.19. That wiped out the CAC Games Record of 31.14 she set just this morning in prelims and also checks-in as the 3rd fastest time of her career. In fact, her outing here in Barranquilla was just .08 off of what she produced for silver at the 2015 World Championships in Kazan.

Atkinson was the only racer to dip under 31 seconds in the race, as Mexico’s Byanca Rodriguez, the 2014 CAC champion in this event, clocked 31.20 for silver this time around, while Venezuela’s Mercedes Toledo took bronze in 31.99. Atkinson now ranks as the 4th fastest mark in the world so far this season.

Trinidad & Tobago’s Dylan Carter threw down a CAC Games Record of his own, rocking a gold medal-winning effort in the men’s 50m butterfly. After setting a new meet mark of 23.50 in the prelims, Carter crushed a finals time of 23.11 to reset that record and wind up atop the podium. His effort in Colombia laid waste to the 23.67 he produced on the Gold Coast to become the 2018 Commonwealth Games silver medalist in this event. Carter’s 23.11 outing also establishes a new national record for the former USC Trojan.

For his performance, Carter now ranks 4th in the world with that time and 24th fastest performer ever, perhaps a result of the past few weeks having trained with Team Elite out of California. And, he wasn’t the only T&T athlete on the podium in Colombia, as teammate Joshua Romany took bronze in 24.05. The silver medalist this evening was Guatemala’s Luis Martinez, who stopped the clock at 23.26, also among the top 10 times in the world.

Colombia’s Isabella Arcila took her 3rd gold of these Games, topping the women’s 100m freestyle field in a winning time of 55.21. That gave her another piece of hardware on top of her 50m back and 100m back top prizes from nights 1 and 2. Bahamian racer Joanna Evans, who has 2 golds here in Colombia herself, settled for silver in the race, touching in 55.29, while Mexico’s Liliana Ibanez fell to bronze in 55.39. Of note, Atkinson was 4th in 55.41, a new personal best for the breaststroke specialist.

Additional Winners:

• Team Mexico took gold in the women’s 4x200m freestyle relay, registering a new Games Record time of 8:12.30 in the process. However, of the entire field, the only sub-2 minute split came from Cuban anchor Elisbet Gomez, who touched in 1:59.76.
• Venezuela’s Isabella Paez took the women’s 200m butterfly race, falling just .01 shy of the Games Record mark. Paez clocked 2:11.26 for the win.
• Colombian veteran Omar Pinzon was the men’s 100m backstroke winner, repeating his CAC Games title from 2014. However, Pinzon was much faster this time around, earning a new Games Record of 54.88 to represent the only swimmer under the 55-second threshold.