Carson Foster Reflects on ‘Emotional’ World Champs; ‘The Most Proud Swim… In My Life’

Carson Foster of United States of America competes in the 200m Butterfly Men Heats during the 20th World Aquatics Championships at the Marine Messe Hall A in Fukuoka (Japan), July 25th, 2023.

Carson Foster -- Photo Courtesy: Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

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Carson Foster Concludes ‘Emotional’ Week With ‘The Most Proud Swim… In My Life’

As Leon Marchand pursued history, Carson Foster did his best to stay close to his French rival. Through the halfway point of the men’s 400 IM final, Foster was close to Marchand, although it was clear to everyone watching that Marchand’s superior breaststroke leg would soon leave Foster in the dust. He fell one second behind after one length of breaststroke, then by more than three seconds by the time then men turned to freestyle.

Head-to-head, Foster is evenly matched or slightly better than Marchand on freestyle. But not three seconds better. And sitting a further three seconds ahead of the field, he had nowhere to go, up or down. Seemingly on pace to crush his best time of 4:06.56, he ended up matching the time from last year’s Worlds to the hundredth as Marchand went on to annihilate Michael Phelps’ 15-year-old world record of 4:03.84.

Foster secured a silver medal in that race, as high a finish as he could have realistically hoped for, but his remaining two individual swims did not produce those same results. Seeded first heading into the 200 butterfly final, Foster turned second or third at each intermediate split. He was never going to catch Marchand, but silver or bronze looked well within his reach. Instead, his last 50 was a painful 31.06, by far the slowest in the field, as he faded to sixth, his time of 1:54.74 almost a full second off his semifinal time.

The 200 IM one day later did not turn out much better, as Foster led Marchand by three tenths at the halfway point leading into breaststroke before falling all the way down to fourth on that leg. A medal still looked within reach heading into the final meters, but a sizzling freestyle leg by Great Britain’s Tom Dean vaulted him from seventh to third while fellow American Shaine Casas finished just ahead of Foster. In 1:56.43, Foster was seven tenths off his lifetime best, a time which would have secured him silver.

Carson Foster of United States of America prepares to compete in the Men's Butterfly 200m Heats during the 20th World Aquatics Championships at the Marine Messe Hall A in Fukuoka (Japan), July 25th, 2023.

Carson Foster — Photo Courtesy: Andrea Masini / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

It was a discouraging position for Foster after the meet kicked off with so much promise. But with one swim remaining, Foster managed to position himself for a big split on the U.S. men’s 800 freestyle relay. Instead of spiraling, he swam his career-best performance.

The Americans had fallen behind the field, going through the first changeover in fourth place following a tough leadoff leg by Luke Hobson, but Foster dug in and immediately closed the gap. Racing one lane over for the favored British team was Matt Richards, already the gold medalist in the individual 200 free. And in a surprise, Foster slightly out-split Richards, 1:44.49 to 1:44.65.

Foster’s swim moved the Americans into the second-place spot in which they would remain through the entire race as Jake Mitchell and Kieran Smith battled but could not close the gap on the Brits, so Foster concluded his second World Championships with another silver medal.

“A lot of swims this week, but that’s what I train for. It’s an emotional week. It’s just as hard emotionally as it is physically. I had some ups and downs, but I have a great support system, and that’s who got me through it,” Foster said.

“I texted my family a minute ago in the awards staging room and said that was probably the most proud swim I ever had in my life. Being in a pretty dark spot last night, being frustrated, not being happy with how I was swimming the last two days, and to be able to come back today, have the coaches believe in me enough to put me on it and then to really just prove to myself that I have more out there than what I showed this week. I’m proud of that one.”

It was Foster’s key performance that put the Americans in a position to have an outside chance at gold and ensured that neither Australia nor any other squad would get close enough to make a run at silver. Now, with his racing program at the World Championships concluded, the 21-year-old from Cincinnati will turn his attention to the Olympic year, having turned professional and ended his college career.

As he looks reflects on the Fukuoka Worlds for lessons he can use in his Olympic preparation, this relay swim following two tough individual results can remind Foster of his own resiliency and grit.

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jack

9 months ago

Brave 200 Free Leg! Looked super strong and poised for 2024!