Barbados fourth overall as Heidi Stoute breaks records at CARIFTA Aquatic Championships

With a tally of seven gold, nine silver and 11 bronze medals, and a combined total of  365 points, the Barbados swim team at the CARIFTA Aquatic Championships ’23 in  Curaçao were 4th in overall points.

Leading the Championships with a whopping 863 points was Bahamas, while Cayman Islands was second on 572 and Trinidad & Tobago in third with 407 points.

Barbados’ Heidi Stoute has been in impressive form. She was reported to have broken the 1500m freestyle 13-14 girls record with a new time of 18:30.16, erasing the previous meet record of 19:37.74.

Her gold streak continued when she  won gold in the Girls 13-14 100 LC Meter Freestyle in 59.84 secs, which is also a national age group record. She then teamed up in the 800m LC Metre Freestyle relay to win yet another gold for Barbados.

This follows on from the second day of action where Stoute captured gold in the Girls 13-14 200 LC Metre Freestyle with a time of 2:10.14. Her teammate Toria Alleyne was also on the podium with a third place finish behind Marleigh Howes from Bermuda

Amiya Harrison continued her medal haul on the third day when she finished second in the Girls 11-12 200 LC Metre IM in 2:43.71. The winner was Saleste Gibson from the Bahamas in 2:43.24. Harrison missed out on a bronze medal in the 50 LC Meter breaststroke as she had to settle for fourth place in 37.38 secs after being out touched by Jamaica’s Kia Alert (37.36 secs). The winner was Kimaya Saunders from Bahamas in 36.95 secs.

On the second day of action Amiya Harrison (31.20 secs) was third in the Girls 11-12 50 LC Metre Butterfly, which was won by  Saleste Gibson (30.02 secs) from The Bahamas. Harrison missed out on another bronze when she finished fourth in the 200m backstroke. Swimming on Day 1, Harrison was second in the 200m LC Metre Breaststroke in 3:03.81, narrowly being out touched by Jaylah Threadgill from Bahamas who clocked 3:03.68 secs. She was also third in the 50 LC metre backstroke in 34.54 secs.

Zachary Burke’s silver lining was shining as he finished second in the Boys 11-12 200 LC Metre IM in 2:37.13 behind David Singh from Bahamas in 2:29.75. Burke also picked up a bronze in the 50 LC Metre breaststroke which was also won by Singh.

Zachary Burke (28.93 secs) was second in the Boys 11-12 50 LC Metre Butterfly just being out touched by Chris Soeperman (28.53 secs) from Suriname.  Burke also competed in the 200m where he finished fifth on Day 2.  Burke was second in the 50 LC metre backstroke and 100 LC Metre Butterfly on Day 1, which was won by David Singh from the Bahamas and Soeperman respectively.

Barbados finished second and third thanks to Jaiya Simmons (30.03secs ) and Elanna B Fulton (30.13secs) in a close finish in the Girls 13-14 50 LC Metre Butterfly. The race was won by Sierrah Broadbelt (29.25 secs) from Cayman Islands. Simmons was third in the 100 LC Metre Butterfly (1:0.93) just missing second which was taken by Zoe Williamson (1:07.92) from the Bahamas. The winner was Broadbelt in 1:05.78.

Adara Stoddard was second in the Girls 15-17 200 LC Metre IM which was won by Lila Higgo from Cayman Islands and Stoddard was also third in the Girls 15-17 200 LC Metre Freestyle.

She captured the silver medal in the Girls 15-17 400 LC Metre IM behind Lila Higgo from Cayman Islands once again.  Stoddard was coming off a Day 1 performance where she won the gold medal in the 200mLC Metre breaststroke in 2:43.80 and third in the 100 LC Metre Butterfly in 1:06.48. Winner of the Butterfly was Jillian Crooks from Cayman Islands in 1:02.67.

Brennan Watson was third in the Boys 13-14 400 LC Metre IM, which was won by Jean-Nael Zozime from Martinique.

The Barbados Girls 11-12 400 LC Metre Medley Relay team finished third behind winners The Bahamas and second place Aruba. They were also third in the 400 LC Metre Freestyle relay.

Girls 13-14 400 LC Metre Freestyle Relay team won the gold medal in 4:09.44 ahead of Jamaica and Martinique. (CG)