Trinidad and Tobago' s top junior swimmer Dylan Carter splashed to this country's first medal at the Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing yesterday.
Carter grabbed bronze in the Men's 50 m freestyle at the Nanjing Olympic Sports Center Natatorium.
And Carter will also splash for a medal today when he contests the finals of the Men's 50 m butterfly today after he qualified second. Female T&T hurdler Jeminise Parris will also run for a medal in the Women's 100 m hurdles A finals on Saturday after she qualified with the fourth fastest time in yesterday's prelims. Back at the Natatorium, with his customary great start, Carter led up to 20 metres in the Men's 50m free final but China's Hexin Yu proved too strong and reeled him back in before surging past to post a new junior world record of 22.00. Brazilian Matheus de Santana was second in 22.43 and Carter third in 22.53.
Carter had qualified for the final in 22.49 in the semifinals.
Carter also secured his spot in the Men's 50 m butterfly final today when he won semifinal two in 24.04 seconds. He will be hoping to reverse fortunes with his Chinese rival Yu today who had the fastest qualifying time in semifinal one in 24.03 seconds.
Carter earlier qualified for the semifinals with a 24.01 timing, the fastest out of the heats. But the Men's 50m butterfly semifinals came 50 minutes after the Men's 50m free final.
At the Olympic Sports Center Stadium, the Memphis Pioneer athlete Parris posted a new PR of 13.62 to finish second in her heat and advance to the A final Saturday. Her teammate Kashief King ran a 48.66 second clocking for the Men's 400m event, finishing third in his heat but not good enough for a spot in the A final. King will compete in the B final Saturday.
At the Jinniu Lake yesterday, T&T sailor Abigail Affoo competed in three races , placing 29th , 30th and a much improved 15th respectively.
Today, Chelsea James will launch her YOG campaign in the Women's shot putt while swimmer Johnnya Ferdinand will dive into action in the Women's 50m free.
And the beach volleyball pair of Chelsi Ward and Malika Davidson will look to book their spot in the next round of 24 with a win against Bolivia at the Youth Olympic Sports Park.