Highly touted teenaged swimmer Adara Stoddard delivered on her immense promise and secured Barbados’s first medal while Jaiya Simmons struck double gold at the 35th CARIFTA Aquatic Championships last night at the Aquatic Centre.
Stoddard produced a record-breaking victory in the final of the 15-17 girls’ 200 metres breaststroke to establish an impressive new mark of 2:43.34 minutes.
She shattered her own national record of 2:46.37 minutes, which she set at the 2019 Games on her way to a priceless victory.
Jaiya Simmons made it a golden night for Barbados, snatching gold in the 11-12 girls 50 metres backstroke and then the 100 butterfly. (Picture by Kenmore Bynoe)
Cayman Islands’ Kaitlyn Sullivan touched the wall second in a time of 2:49.46 minutes, while Rhanishka Gibbs of the defending champions The Bahamas was third in 2:51.94 minutes.
CARIFTA debutante Jaiya Simmons gained her first gold medal in the 50-metre backstroke for 11-12 girls in a time of 32.77 seconds. The 12-year-old later grabbed a second gold with victory in the 11-12 girls’ 100 metres butterfly in a blistering time of 1:08.58 minutes. (NM)
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