Senior Multimedia Reporter
T&T swimmer Liam Carrington won his first major senior individual competitive medal when he got bronze in the men’s 100 backstroke A-Final on the final night of the 2026 Speedo Fort Lauderdale Open in the USA, formerly a stop on USA Swimming’s Pro Swim Series on Saturday night.
Competing from seven at the Fort Lauderdale Aquatic Center, 18-year-old Carrington, who is committed to North Carolina State University for the fall, finished in the third spot in 55.48, about a second ahead of the 54.54 he swam in August at the World Junior Championships.
The winner of the 100m backstroke gold medal was lane five entrant Hubert Kos, who picked up his second backstroke win of the meet in dominant fashion.
This was after Kos touched the wall in 53.12, more than two seconds ahead of the rest of the field, but was a little off his season best of 52.63 from the US. Open in December, which currently ranks fourth in the world this season, while Jack Aikins, swimming from lane six, finished with the silver medal in 55.43, a three-second addition from the 52.74 he swam in June of 2024 at the Olympic Trials.
On Saturday morning Carrington, a winner of 12 medals (nine gold, one silver and two bronze) at the Carifta Aquatics Championships in Martinique in April, had earlier qualified as the fourth fastest overall from the morning heats in the 100m backstroke after he placed second in the fifth of six heats in 56.35 seconds swimming from lane six, trailing Aikins, who won in 54.95 for the second-best time overall, while Gavin Schinkelshoek (57.20) and Ethan Bathala (56.50) were third and fourth in the heat and qualified for the A-Final with the sixth and eighth fastest times.
Carrington, who attends Bolles High School in Florida, USA, also had a sixth-place finish in the men’s 50m freestyle B-Final in 23.15 seconds to end the night and the four-day meet after he was the 15th best in the morning heats in 23.44.
In the 5om freestyle A-Final, T&T’s Dylan Carter missed out on adding to his bronze medal won in the men’s 50m butterfly A-Final on Friday night with a sixth-place finish in 22.42.
Estonia’s Ralf Tribuntsov stunned the field to take the gold medal in 22.24, just off his lifetime best in the event, 22.07, from May of 2025, with Chris Guiliano and Ruslan Gaziev tied for second in 22.27.
The silver medal winners were both off their season best times, with Guiliano swimming 21.43 at the Pro Swim Series in Westmont and Gaziev holding a season best of 21.93 from November’s Japan Open.
Going into the 50m freestyle A-final, Carter had the second fastest time from the heat of 22.41 when he won the final heat, ahead of Dressel (22.56) and Sammon (22.56), while Liendo (22.29 seconds) and Kharun (22.52) won the first two circle-seeded heats of the 50m freestyle with the fastest and third-best times.
A former NCAA champion for the University of Southern California, Carter also missed out on medalling in the 100m butterfly A-final after a fifth-place finish.
In the 100m butterfly, the 30-year-old Carter touched the wall in 53.07 seconds from lane three to finish ahead of Sammon (53.21), Hutch Paxton (53.93), and Arthur Balva (54.49).
Kharun had a very strong performance and stopped the clock in 50.87 seconds on the way to the gold medal.
Canada’s Liendo, who has T&T roots, finished second in 51.17, which is the ninth fastest time in the world this season, just ahead of France’s Leon Marchand‘s 51.20 from the U.S. Open, with Dressel touching in the third spot in 51.26, a new season best time for him, dropping from the 51.33 he swam at the U.S. Open in December, and his compatriot, Shane Casas, fourth in 51.27.
When the heats took place on Saturday morning for the 100m butterfly, Carter was second in the fifth of six heats in 53.16 seconds, finishing behind three-time NCAA champion Liendo, who won in 51.56, while Paxton was in third in 54.88 as the trio qualified.
Khuran was the top qualifier to the 100m butterfly A-final after he won heat four in 51.48, with Sammon second home in 53.24 and Balva (54.60) third, while in heat six, Dressel (52.38) and Casas (52.50) were the two swimmers to book their places in the gold medal splash.
In the women’s 100m backstroke B-Final, T&T’s Zuri Ferguson of the University of Florida secured the runner-up spot with a time of one minute, 02.81 seconds, swimming from lane four, to finish behind Nashville Aquatic Club’s Eva Rottink, who won in one minute, 01.98 seconds, from lane six, with Princeton University’s Delaney Herr third in one minute, 02.82 seconds, from lane two when the heats came off. Ferguson was fifth in the eighth and final heat in one minute and 03.31 seconds to finish in the 13th spot overall.
