The Carifta Swimming Championships were held in Barbados April 16 to 19, 2022. Team SVG had 11 swimmers.
Medal winners are:
- Brandon George– Boys age 13 to 14 – 100 meter backstroke – Bronze medal (Brandon picture attached with Bronze medal)
- Kennice Greene– Girls 13 to 14 – 50 meter Freestyle – Bronze medal (Kennice picture attached with bronze and silver relay medal)
- Girls 13 to 14 Relay team– 4 x 50-meter Freestyle Relay – Silver medal. The team comprised of Kennice Greene, Kevern Dasilva, Zariel Nelson and Jamie Joachim. Relay team picture attached with Silver medals.
Kennice Greene was SVG’s most outstanding female swimmer. She qualified for five finals.
Brandon George was the most outstanding male swimmer. He qualified for four finals.
The girl’s age 13 to 14 relay team were outstanding. Kennice Greene, Kevern Dasilva, Zariel Nelson and Jamie Joachim placed 2nd to Jamaica in the 4 x 50-meter freestyle relay by fractions of a second. They also placed 4th in the 4 x 100-meter freestyle relay and 5th in the 4 x 100 meter Medley relay.
Ten of St Vincent’s eleven swimmers qualified and swam in the finals. Nine new SVG national records were set.
National Team Coach Kyle Dougan stated, “With continued commitment from all swimmers, we worked with each individual swimmer six weeks prior to the event on a tailored program unique to them. This enabled them to focus on their individual events and the results seen are a testament to the hard work, commitment and dedication that they put in. I am very pleased with the results and it is a great start to an exciting year of competition.”
This is the eighth consecutive Carifta swimming championships in which SVG swimmers have brought home medals. We hope to continue this streak next year. The future looks bright and particularly for Matthew Ballah, Eltonique Leonard, Eltonte Leonard and Zariel Nelson who all swam in the first year of their age groups.
“We hope that our major financial supporters including the SVG Government through the National Lottery and the SVG Olympic Committee are pleased with the returns on their investments in swimming. We hope they will continue to support us”.
“Swimming has a busy time ahead with the upcoming Caribbean Games in Guadaloupe in June, the CCCAN Championships in July in Barbados; the Commonwealth Games in England in July/August, FINA Junior World Championships in Peru in August/September and the FINA World Short Course Championships in Japan in December”.
