Barbados Swimmers’ Compete With The World’s Best
The six member Barbados National Junior Swim Team of Hannah Gill, Zabrina Holder, Alexis Clarke, Sariyah Sherry, Christian Selby and Mathew Courtis recently returned from representing Barbados at the 4th Junior World Swimming Championships held in Dubai (UAE), 26-31 August, 2013. The team performed creditably at this high level meet where the best swimmers in the world between the ages of 14 and 18 years participated in a fierce competition over six days, during which an amazing 47 championship records were broken in the 42 event competition.
Fourteen year old Hannah Gill was the pick of the Barbados Junior Team, breaking two National 13-14 Age Group Records in the 800m and 1500m freestyle events and achieving personal best times in each of the events in which she participated . In the 800m freestyle, Hannah established a new time of 9:18.47, eclipsing the previous record of 9:19.81 set by team mate Zabrina Holder in 2011. In the 1500m free her performance was even more impressive as she established a new record time of 17:52.86, breaking her own previous record of 17:59.01 by over six seconds.
Personal best times were also produced by Alexis Clarke in the 100m back and 400m freestyle, Christian Selby in the 800m free and Mathew Courtis in the 50 fly, 200m fly and 200m IM. In the 100m free, Sariyah Sherry narrowly missed breaking her own 13-14 age group record of 1:00.08. The best performance of a swimmer from the Caribbean was by Trinidadian Dylan Carter who performed exceptionally and won a silver medal in the 50m fly and placed 4th in the 100m back.
The experience gained by our athletes will be of tremendous benefit to them as they continue to develop their skills and strive to reach the next level in swimming.
