Jaiya Simmons continued the impressive start to her CARIFTA Aquatics debut by collecting four more gold medals on Sunday night at the Aquatic Centre, taking her total to seven gold in as many events.
Simmons broke the national record in the Girls 11-12 50M butterfly in the preliminary round, setting a time of 30.69 seconds, and coming into the final, she followed it up with 30.74 to secure gold. The previous national record was 30.80 which was set by Asa Dunwoody in 2017.
Her other individual gold medals came in the Girls 11-12 100M backstroke where she clocked 1 minute 11:14 seconds and in the 400M Individual Medley at 5:31:37.
It was also her outstanding performance in the third leg of the 4x100M relay that put Barbados in a position to secure the gold medal with a time of 4:56:32. She started three metres behind her competitor from the Bahamas and ended it three metres ahead of her.
Fellow CARIFTA debutants Victor Ashby and Heidi Stoute also won gold medals in the boys’ 11-12 50M butterfly, clocking in at 28:82 and in the girls’ 11-12 200M freestyle with 2:13:39, respectively. Toria Alleyne picked up a bronze medal in that event also, finishing in 2:21:44.
Adara Stoddard also won her individual medley in the girls’ 15-17 age group clocking in at 5:20:87. This is her second gold medal of the games.
There was a silver medal for CARIFTA new boy Tariq Greenidge in the boys’ 11-12 100M backstroke with a time of 1:11:68. Zachary Burke finished 4th in 1:15:95.
Barbados girl’s captain Keilani Talma came sixth in the 15-17 200M free with a time of 2:13:16
Team Barbados has so far claimed 14 individual medals while grabbing three others in the relays. (JC)
