BARBADOS have added more medals to their bounty.
The country’s top young swimmers collected four gold medals, two silver and a bronze to go along with two new national age group records on the second night of the 29th CARIFTA Swimming Championships in Aruba.
It brought the total medal count after two days to 15, consisting of seven gold, six silver and two bronze after the national team had captured eight medals and broken four national age group records on the opening day at the Pisina Olimpico Roly Bissilik pool in Savaneta.
Setting a new mark of two minutes, 9.99 seconds, Hannah Gill won gold in the 200 metres freestyle to beat Albury Higgs (2:11.18) of the Bahamas and Mathilde Jean (2:11.46).
Christian Selby was also in excellent form to take the boys’ equivalent in a time of 1:53.58, barely outside the Youth Olympics ‘A’ qualifying time of 1:53.57. He finished ahead of Jamaica’s Nico Campbell (1:55.22) and Aruba’s Mikel Schreuders (1:55.91). Bajan Alex Sobers was fourth in 1:56.09, making the ‘B’ qualifying time for the Youth Olympics.
Zabrina Holder earned her second medal of the meet when she touched the wall in 29.19 seconds to take bronze in the 50 metres butterfly. Martinique’s Sandrine Fanchonna (28.98) won the gold while the silver went to Trinidad’s Kristin Julien (29.02).
Danielle Titus was unbeatable in her two events on the day after erasing Inayah Sherry’s national record of 1:10.45 with a gold medal swim of 1:08.82 in the 100 metres backstroke prior to winning the 400 IM (5:36.13).
Breaststroker Luis Sebastian Weekes swam a personal best of 4:56.02 in the 400 IM to take the silver medal. Aruba’s Patrick Groters was first in a time of 4:49.31 while bronze went to Guadeloupe’s Samuel Marinette (4:56.66).
The 15-17 girls relay team of Amara Gibbs, Kimberley Willoughby, Zabrina Holder and Alexis Clarke earned a bronze in the 400 metres medley relay (4:41.75).
On Tuesday, Gill also secured a gold medal in the 800m freestyle, stopping the clock at 9:14.22, which is a new national age group record.
Selby also earned gold in the 1500m freestyle in a time of 16:28.53. Silver and bronze went to Matthew Lyn (16:59.06) and Nico Campbell (17:03.22) both of Jamaica.
The breaststroke events proved hugely successful for Barbados. Nkosi Dunwoody, competing in his first CARIFTA got a bronze in the 200m breaststroke in a personal best 2:46.60 minutes.
In the 13-14 age group, Rebecca Lashley and Luis Sebastian Weekes both took silver in the 200m breast stroke. Lashley erased the old national age group record of 2:49.71 set by Deandre Small in 2010, posting a new time of 2:48.78.
Competing in the 50m backstroke, Titus went under the previous CARIFTA record of 32.26, posting a 32.22 to take second position in the preliminaries. This time was also a new national record, the previous record being 32.45 held by Inayah Sherry. But Titus went even better in the finals, copping the silver medal with a new record time of 32.02. The gold went to Emma Harvey of Bermuda (31.93).
Holder won Barbados’ third gold on the first day, taking the 100m butterfly in a time of 1:04.94. She returned to team up with the girls 15-17 relay team of Kimberley Willoughby, Alexis Clarke and Amara Gibbs to gain silver behind local team Aruba and establish a new national mark of 4:08.35 minutes. (EZS/JM/PR)
