Trinidad and Tobago swimmer George Bovell yesterday earned silver in the men's 50 metres freestyle event at the Berlin, Germany leg of the 2012 FINA/Arena Swimming World Cup, to take his overall World Cup medal tally to ten—four golds, six silvers.
Bovell, who won his fourth gold of the World Cup on Saturday in the men’s 100m individual medley final, had to settle for second in the 50 free, touching the wall in a time of 20.97 seconds.
USA's Anthony Ervin won the event in 20.85 seconds while Australia Matthew Targett was third in a time of 21.12.
Bovell qualified for the 50-metre final with the fourth fastest time, 21.77 seconds, while Ervin clocked 21.50.
The two have been neck and neck throughout the World Cup. Ervin edged Bovell in the 50 free in the first two legs, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates and Doha, Qatar, before Bovell got the better of the 31-year-old American in Stockholm, Sweden, grabbing gold in a national record time of 20.82 seconds.
Bovell followed up his Sweden performance with another sub-21 swim, in Moscow, Russia, touching the wall in 20.90 seconds to pick up his second gold, ahead of Ervin. The American, however, was back in front in Berlin.
On his Twitter page, yesterday, the 29-year-old Bovell wrote: "Great swim tonight. You can't be underestimated. Rematch in Beijing!"
The FINA World Cup is a global circuit of eight two-day meets with the final three taking place in Beijing (China), Tokyo (Japan) and Singapore.
Bovell will be in action in the Beijing leg of the World Cup, which takes place on November 2 and 3.
The Tokyo leg is scheduled for November 6 and 7, while the Singapore leg takes place on November 10 and 11.
All events are contested in short course (25-metre) pools, and the overall circuit winners—men and women—at the end of the series, will earn US$100,000 each.