2019 FINA WORLD AQUATICS CHAMPIONSHIPS
- All sports: Friday, July 12 – Sunday, July 28, 2019
- Pool swimming: Sunday, July 21 – Sunday, July 28, 2019
- The Nambu University Municipal Aquatics Center, Gwangju, Korea
- Meet site
- Competition Schedule
- FinaTV Live Stream
- Entry Lists
- Results
On the heels of Italian Simone Sabbioni‘s 100 back time trial for a 13th-place semifinal berth after two blatant backstroke wedge malfunctions, Trinidad and Tobago’s Dylan Carter was granted the same opportunity, squeaking into semis at 16th place by .01 seconds.
With his 54.03 re-swim, Carter bumped Italian Thomas Ceccon – who had been 54.04 – out of getting another swim. Carter’s second swim came after official results were posted, and took place between the men’s 200 free and women’s 1500 heats. Carter bested his former 54.09 Trinidad and Tobago record from Canadian World Trial in April, as well.
Just from rewatching his original race video, it’s not totally clear that Carter suffered a major issue with the wedge, but it appears it possibly gave out, or he slipped. A handful of swimmers struggled with the wedge throughout both the men’s and women’s 100 back heats, and Sabbioni’s clearly gave out. The USC alum Carter was 55.35, tied for 30th overall, after the first swim.
If you follow NCAA swimming, this race may remind you of when Cal’s Daniel Carr re-swam his 100 back last March at the Division I NCAA Championships because officials failed to remove his start wedge in his first race before he flipped on it, and he went a best time and bumped Texas’ Austin Katz out of the B-final.
It’s not clear as of publishing if Italy will protest Carter’s swim, but this article will be updated if there is a development.
Update: Italy will not appeal the swim. Ceccon and Richard Bohus of Hungary (54.07) were added to the semi-finals, resulting in two heats of nine swimmers each.
It was definitely a wedge malfunction. It went down significantly at his initiation of the start
Why don’t they just use 2 additional lanes in the semi’s, too allow the time trial swimmers in as well as the 16 fastest from the heats.
I understand it is a little unorthodox, but so is what happened.
i don’t think athletes should miss semi-finals because 2 other athletes swam faster than them in completely different conditions.
This is so bizarre to happen twice? Smh
Just ban the wedge. Learn to seal your toes on the wall, people.
Too many good races were ruined by slips before the wedge. Just get wedges that work. Going old school is not the answer.
As opposed to all the races ruined by the wedges tonight, forcing re-swims
Have backstroke do a forward start like everyone else. They turn over underwater. 15m rule obviously applies. Put an end to all these shenanigans!